Camp Littleroot
by solarlunarxiii
Summary: Lucy, the newly appointed counselor of the highly anticipated summer program for Pokémon, Camp Littleroot, comes head to head with an adventure of a lifetime when all 6 of the Pokémon scheduled for a summer of fun are ambushed on their way! Now spread throughout the Hoenn region, it's Lucy job to find all 6 Pokémon and solve the mysterious surrounding their disappearance and past.
1. Chapter 1: Lost Pokémon!

_This story was originally published as a challenge thread on the Azurilland forums for an Un-Evolved Sapphire Scramble challenge. I wrote several chapters of it, though sadly never finished it. But now, I'm going to be going through and remastering every chapter to be more a story than a challenge thread, and then eventually write and complete the rest of the story._

 _Because I was literally writing this story while I was playing through a game of Pokémon Sapphire, there may be certain parts that require this context, but I will be doing my best to keep everything very natural sounding, as if I'm writing the story all over again. Regardless, I hope you enjoy!_

* * *

 **Chapter 1** : Lost Pokémon!

The air was clean. It was another calm, sun shiny day in Littleroot town where Lucy was preparing for the big day of the year to finally begin. Over the last few days, she'd been working non-stop on all the preparations that needed to be in place; renting jumping castles, setting up obstacle courses, and more than anything, baking _a lot_ of Pokémon food. She'd been working since last summer ended, and now the time of year was here once again. It was time for another month of Camp Littleroot—the Hoenn region's only Pokémon Summer Camp.

Supported wholly by the Pokémon Day Care of Route 117, and the Pokémon Fan Club, Camp Littleroot was an experience for Pokémon from all around the region. Mostly it's a time for Hoenn's stray Pokémon, wild Pokémon, and Pokémon from the day care to come and have a good time, make friends, and have a blast. This year there were 6 Pokémon scheduled to show up, and Lucy couldn't be more excited to meet some new friends. Or… so she was hoping.

That day, while Lucy was tucking her pink blonde hair under her red cap, and adjusting her black-rimmed glasses accordingly, a Pelipper arrived on Lucy's window with an urgent sound. A letter was attached to it, and it was flapping its arms frantically for Lucy to open her bedroom window.

When she did, her heart sank into pieces when she read the words written:

 _Lucy,_

 _The trainer we sent to deliver the Pokémon to Littleroot Town was ambushed by Team Aqua, and the Pokémon all fled in different directions! Now we have no idea where they all are! We don't know what to do, we're trying to ask anybody who's available to keep an eye out for them. They're just baby Pokémon who don't' have any real fighting experience, and we are worried sick about them. Who knows what could happen to them?_

 _Please alert Professor Birch as soon as you can,_

 _The Day Care Couple._

"Oh no…oh no!" Lucy exclaimed frantically, having no clue what to do, "Professor Birch! PROFESSOR BIRCH!"

Lucy yelled, running with all the air in her lungs she could muster, and she didn't even have her running shoes on. She hadn't even had breakfast yet and, she got the urgent letter from the Day Care couple alerting her to the danger all the poor Pokécampers were in. What kind of evil people would do this to innocent Pokémon?

Racing out of the doors to her house, she galloped across the streets to get to the Pokémon Laboratory. Lucy burst through the Pokémon Lab doors, embarrassingly catching her breath since it was such a short run from her house. She wasted no time and started yelling as loud as she could to get somebody's attention, "Professor Birch! Professor Birch!"

"—Lucy!" said a distracted voice coming from the lab, "What's the matter? Why are you yelling?"

Lucy was fortunate enough to be on good terms with the Pokémon Professor, given he lived in the same town that she did. She had been given the task of running the camp this year by the professor himself—and now she had to tell him that something had gone horribly wrong, and camp hadn't even started yet.

"Professor Birch—" Lucy exhaled while clutching her knees and holding up the note she'd received from Pelipper, "this just came from Route 117- Team Aqua- the campers - LOST!"

"WHAT?!" Professor Birch yelled, "Lost where?!"

Lucy huffed and puffed and held her head to her knees, "They don't know...Apparently somewhere close to Route 110...so they could be anywhere! What are we going to do? What if they get in trouble? What if someone catches them?"

Professor Birch grabbed the note from Lucy and began skimming it over. After only a few seconds of reading his brow scowled and his face turned red.

"TEAM AQUA?!" he exploded, "Those no good rotten—"

"—Professor, what are we going to do? The Pokémon—they—I'm—I'm the counselor! If anything happens to those Pokémon it's my fault!"

"There's only one thing to do! We have to rescue those Pokémon!" The Professor answered immediately, look around the Laboratory, with a concerned look of worry, "—But we're low on people to do it. Brendan is off on his own journey, who can we trust to go?"

Lucy stood, sweating, chanting quietly to herself " _Don't say me, don't say me, don't say me..."_ As much as she cared about the Pokémon, she had no world experience outside of her little town. She would be useless.

"Lucy!"

Birch grinned. Lucy's throat dropped to her shoes.

"You've been wanting to start your Pokémon journey for some time now!"

Lucy feigned a grin and nervously said, "Well, Professor, I…uh…I don't think being a trainer is really my cup of tea..."

"Which is exactly why you should go!" Birch exclaimed, "You're the head counselor of Camp Littleroot, are you not? That means it's your job to get out there and find those Pokémon!"

Lucy stood and contemplated the options, though there really weren't many. She would suggest that everyone split up and find the Pokémon, but that wouldn't be fair to everyone else. The Professor was right—Camp Littleroot was her responsibility. She had to go find those Pokémon, even if she'd never commanded a battle in her life.

"Ok, Professor," Lucy said, "I'll do it."

"Splendid! But first, you'll need to get a Pokémon, you can't go out into the tall grass all by yourself, you know!"

The idea of getting her first Pokémon made Lucy both excited and terrified. She loved Pokémon, more than anything, but _owning_ one? Training one? She didn't know the first thing about battles, or even being a trainer.

Having been eavesdropping, Professor Birch's faithful lab assistant hustled over and whispered something secretive into Birch's ear. Something Birch did not respond well to. "WHAT?! What do you mean we're out of Pokémon?!"

Lucy felt immediately at ease. Maybe she wouldn't have to go look for them after all, somebody more qualified would be more suited anyway, like a gym leader.

The assistant nervously gutted out, "W-We've had 6 new trainers this month...We just gave out the last Treeko. I've contacted Professor Juniper in Unova for some backups to be delivered—"

"There's no time for that!" Birch exclaimed, then sharply turning his attention to Lucy, "Alright then, all I can do them is give you 6 Pokéballs and let you catch your own."

"W-What?" Lucy panicked, "That's not how it's supposed to go! How will I defend myself out there?"

Professor Birch put a hand on Lucy's shaking shoulder, "There are probably many friendly Zigzagoon who would be happy to help you out! Just, uh… approach them cautiously. They can territorial and chase after people. But, you know how to handle Pokémon, unlike most rookie trainers! So I'm not worried at all."

"Are you really sure about this, professor? I don't even know who the Pokémon are what they look like, the day care couple didn't get that far! And what if the Pokémon I find is…mean? And doesn't want me to be their trainer?"

"Those are questions every trainers asks themselves at one point, Lucy!" he replied jovially, "But never fear! If you show a Pokémon compassion, they are likely to show you it in return. You only need patience."

"I—"

"Not another word about it! There are Pokémon to save!"

Swallowing her gut, Lucy nodded. The Professor was right.

"Ok, sir. I'll go find the Pokémon. T-Thank you."

And with that, after taking the six Pokéballs from Professor Birch, Lucy was off into horrifyingly uncharted territory.

* * *

Lucy paced around the entrance to Route 101, stressing and worrying over what she was going to do. She didn't even know which Pokémon were lost, the trainer who was ambushed had the list and Lucy was receiving them blind! Now she had to go catch her first Pokémon all by herself?

Ever since she was a kid, it was true, Lucy had dreamed about becoming a trainer one day. But things never seemed to work out. When she turned 10 years ago, when she would have started her journey like everyone else, Lucy wanted to stay behind and take care all of the wild Pokémon that would pass by her house. She always thought she'd end up working at the day care herself, or if not that, just be one of those Pokémon that loved Pokémon but never became a trainer. Lucy knew a lot of people like that. But never the less, here she was, and she had no idea what she was doing.

But all was not lost, because just when she was contemplating retreating and asking for help, she heard the pitter-patter of what sounded like hooves frolicking through the grass. The crimson hue from the wild Pokémon's mane didn't match the usual aesthetic of southern Hoenn at all. What was a FIRE Pokémon doing here?

Strangely, the stray Pokémon began to speak. "Excuse me, is… this Littleroot Town? I'm here for summer camp..."

Lucy approached the Pokémon cautiously as she was trained to do with creatures she hadn't made friends with yet. "Yes, this is Camp Littleroot. Are you lost?"

"Oh, it was horrible!" The wild Ponyta started flailing, "I was snug inside a Pokéball, until before I knew it, I had been released somewhere! I didn't know where I was, and I couldn't find my friends...but this is really Littleroot?"

"Yes, this is Littleroot." Lucy said calmly, hoping not to frighten the scared Pokémon away, "But you're the only camper who's here so far! The rest of them, your friends, are all lost too. I'm going to find them right now. Why don't you head into town and find the Pokémon Professor—he'll keep you safe until I come back."

"What?! No! Let me come with you!" Ponyta cheered, "I'm the best fighter at the Day Care anyway, I kick everyone's butts! I'll help you find my friends."

Lucy gasped and put her hands to her mouth, "You can tell me who they are?"

"Yeah, duh!" Ponyta galloped, "So what do you say, can I go with you?"

It took some contemplating, but after some much acknowledged thought, Lucy knew what the right thing to do was. She could see in the Ponyta's eyes that it had a fire for battle, but more than anything, a concern for her friends. Lucy could feel how much she wanted to see them all again.

"Okay," Lucy nodded, "Well…you'll need to travel in one of these Pokéballs…is that okay with you?"

"WAIT—" Ponyta said excitedly, "So you get to be my TRAINER?! Seriously? I've always wanted a trainer!"

And like that, the bond between Camp and Counselor was born. Lucy reached for one of the Pokéballs she got from Professor Birch and let the happy Ponyta hop inside, before throwing it into the air so she could tag alongside her. Something felt _right_ about it, like all of this was meant to be.

"What's your name?" Lucy asked, "Besides Ponyta, of course."

"Oh, we don't go by our Pokémon names at the Day Care." Ponyta said, "You can call me Willow! Mr. Caretaker likes trees, he named us after them."

Lucy smiled, "Willow it is then. Well then Willow, what do you say, are you ready to find your friends?"

Willow raised her hooves in the air and let out a cry of joy. The first day of Camp Littleroot had begun! Operation: **Find the Lost Pokémon**!


	2. Chapter 2: A Hop, Kick, and a Jump!

**Chapter 2** : A Hop Kick, and a Jump!

Lucy and Willow were off, blazing through the wilds of the area en route to Petalburg to start their search for the missing Pokémon. Although it would've been ideal to traverse the waters on Route 103 to reach the scene of the crime faster, there was no easy way across without a Pokémon to ride on, that was pretty clearly not going to happen with Willow being a fire type. Unless they came across another lost camper who happened to know how to surf, which was not likely. So, with great speed and diligence, Lucy and Willow began with the cozy and grassy Route 102.

Willow's skills in battle were beyond what Lucy expected, though it was little surprise considering she came from the Pokémon Day Care. Though they'd never beaten a Gym Leader or anything, it was natural for Pokémon who stayed at the day care for long periods of time to get stronger.

Inevitably, Willow and Lucy came across their first fellow trainer and Pokémon looking to battle them. It was a young boy, who was quite younger than Lucy bit was still just as new at being a trainer than she was. He approached them with a delightful grin that looked as if it could make a Cryogonal feel welcomed.

"Hey you!" He beckoned at Lucy and the Ponyta walking loyally by her side, "you're a new Pokémon trainer, aren't you? Wow! That's such a cool Pokémon!"

Willow beamed back on her own accord happily, "Thank you!"

"Say—" the youngster continued, "What do you say to having a battle with me and my own partner Pokémon?!"

Lucy felt her sneakers turn to ice beneath her feet and was at a complete loss for words. She'd never had a Pokémon battle before and had no idea what she was supposed to do, nor did she even know what moves Willow had picked up. Her first instinct was to say no, and she prepared to shake her head, but then Willow jumped in front of her and started scratching her hooves on the dirt in taunt against the opposing trainer.

"Looks like your Pokémon wants to battle! So I'll take that as a yes!"

Lucy's eye's widened in horror, "No no no wait—"

"—GO, Zigzagoon!"

A wild Zigzagoon was sent out that was cute and fluffy, and had the same look of eager innocence that Willow had herself.

The youngster pointed forward and proudly declared his move, "Zigzagoon, use tackle!"

The opposing Pokémon leaped forward and attempted to inflict some damage on Willow, but as quick as a blink, Willow jumped to the side and dodged the attack as if it didn't even happen, leaving Zigzagoon to fall belly-first on the ground.

Lucy knew that this was the time to declare a move just like the other trainer did, but she had no idea what to say. So, she improvised.

"Uh—Willow, use—"

But she didn't even finish her command before Willow had taken it upon herself to use her own attack. Racing forward, Willow leaped into the air and then flipped around suddenly, pointing both of her hind legs at Zigzagoon and giving it two swift kicks. Zigzagoon flew backwards back at its trainer and collapsed on the ground, exhausted. Willow had won, and Lucy didn't even have to use a move.

The youngster trainer was shook, "WHOA! That was Double Kick! You sure caught a cool Pokémon! I didn't even know that Ponyta lived in the Hoenn region!"

Lucy let out a nervous giggle, "Hehe…well…guess I got lucky?"

Zigzagoon was withdrawn into his Pokémon, and without any more talk, the boy raced with a happy smile on his face and a huge wave of farewell, off to the nearest Pokémon Center.

Willow turned around to face Lucy, and she could've have looked more proud of herself if she had just won first place in a Pokémon Contest. Lucy didn't even know what to say, because she had just won her first Pokémon battle without even trying.

"H-How did you learn such a strong move like that?" Lucy asked her new partner.

Willow swung her fiery mane back and forth, "Cool, huh? I've known it since I was born. I didn't get to get meet much of my dad, but from what I remember, he had _huge_ powerful legs! And I have them too. I wish I could've seen him battle."

Lucy was confused what Willow was referring to, "wait, you never got to spend time with your parents? What about your mom? Didn't you… belong to another trainer?"

Willow shook her beady-eyed head from side to side, "Nope. None of us do. At least the ones that get to stay, that is. Mrs. Caretaker explained it to us once, I think it has something to do with the Eggs that trainers decide not to keep, and the Caretakers raise them instead."

Lucy remembered a book she had borrowed from Professor Birch a very long time ago that was written by one of his colleagues in the Johto region. It was all about advanced in Pokémon breeding, and how some trainers attempt to hatch and raise many different Pokémon from eggs so that they can eventually get the strongest possible Pokémon as a result. It's very difficult to achieve, but with more and more trainers in the Hoenn region attempting to become Champion, it made sense that there would be more than a handful of eggs left behind. But Lucy had no idea that _that_ was how Willow had come to the day care in the first place.

Lucy froze, unsure what to say next to support her new friend, despite it seemingly like she didn't need any support at all. Willow's explanation was so calm, how could she not be heartbroken?

"Does that make you sad?" Lucy asked.

Willow looked at the ground reflectively, "I guess...but, like the caretakers tell us, we're all a family! I think about my parents sometimes, but could I ever have time to dwell on it when I have so many other Pokémon to play with?"

Lucy felt ashamed she never knew this about the campers that came to Littleroot. It was always her job to give them a happy summer, she never thought for a second they had such a sad backstory. Though from the way Willow described it, it didn't seem sad at all. These Pokémon have been through a lot. It was only more incentive for Lucy to give them the summer they've all been waiting for.

Continue their travels, it become apparent very soon on that Willow had become undefeatable. She was very energetic, and barely needed a moments rest before hoping onto the next battle. Lucy was slowly learning the basis of Pokémon battling, but Willow taken that to the next level, like all the internal energy built up from a lifetime spent in the Day Care was being released into one big jolt. They blazed through Route 102, took a brief rest in Petalburg City, and wasted no time jumping to the next area and into Petalburg Woods.

When they arrived in the woods though, things were slightly more precarious. Lucy suddenly began doubting of Willow could handle the additional factor of the forest darkness, and worried she might be scared.

"Willow, we need to be careful in here." Lucy said cautiously, "There's all sorts of mischief brewing in these woods."

In the echoes of the forest, there were audible sounds of swarming territorial Beedrill and Cascoon hiding in the tall trees just waiting for an unsuspecting trainer to walk by and pounce. When Camp Littleroot was in full swing, the campers were welcome to explore, but going into the Petalburg Woods was always completely against the rules.

"Oh gosh, campers are not supposed to go this far away from town, what was _I thinking_..." Lucy started questioning to herself.

"Relax!" Willow exclaimed, "You saw me battle. I'm invincible! C'mon, I dare something to pop up behind me right now. Put 'em up, put 'em up!"

Willow had begun doing a twirl back in forth in midair, trying to get viewpoints from every angle.

Lucy giggled at her silly new Pokémon, "Ok, ok, you're right. But also remember, I need you to be watching for if you see any of your friends from the Day Care around you. There's 5 more of you left...but, oh, I really hope nobody is lost in Petalburg Woods..."

Suddenly, both Lucy and Willow were startled by a voice.

"HELP! HEEELP!" Came crying out from deeper in the forest.

"Somebody's in trouble!" Willow cried, "Let's go!"

Willow immediately bolted off, without Lucy's permission.

"WAIT! WAAAIT!" Lucy exclaimed, internally screaming from the fear she had of going too deep into Petalburg Woods by herself.

Lucy followed the sonic speeding Willow through the woods and patches of grass that they paid no mind to.

When they arrived at the place where the cry for help came from, they saw a middle-aged man on the ground, cowering in fear below a scary man dressed in striped black and white and a blue banana.

The frail little business-man whimpered, "You there, you're a trainer! Please help me!"

Willow stopped dead in her tracks and let out a loud gasp, and her feet were dug into the forest grass like a flagpole.

"Lucy, that's him! That's the guy who scattered all of us!" Willow said, hammering her hooves in the dirt, ready for battle.

The evil looking man gave Lucy and willow a taunting grin. "Well, well, are you here to save the day?"

Lucy took one look at the emblem embedded on the guy's shirt and realized exactly who he was. The gruff on his chin, the dirtiness to his clothes, and the foulness to his smell gave everything away from what she'd seeing on the news and hearing from Professor Birch.

"You're Team Aqua!" Lucy gasped.

"Figure that all out by yourself, huh?" He teased. "Out of my way, I have grown-up things to do."

Lucy and Willow ran behind the man to block his path, and Willow let out a threatening puff of smoke from her nostrils.

Lucy pointed at the man and yelled at him, "Are you the one who ambushed a trainer on Route 110? You took their Pokémon and released them all into the wild!"

"Aw, shoot, was that you?" coughed the grunt, "Look, I'm sorry about that, I wasn't looking to—"

"It wasn't _me_!" she exclaimed back, "But because of you, I have 5 other missing Pokémon that could be anywhere in the Hoenn region!"

Ruggedly, the Team Aqua grunt scratched his nose and the back of his head. He looked genuinely apologetic, which was strange for a group that usually seemed to be criminals.

"I'm new here, 'aight? I thought theys' was' holding the parts I was looking for. Turns out I didn't read my assignment right. It said "Rustboro", not...uh...'Route'..."

Willow neighed and howled. She wasn't amused at all, and look like she should tackle the grunt in the gut at any second.

Lucy crossed her arms in a fit, "Can you at least tell me where the other Pokémon went? I've only found this Ponyta."

The grunt's face turned red, "W-Wah? Nah, I don't know nothin'..."

"He's lying!" Willow roared, "I remember him pulling our Pokéballs out of the bag and throwing all of them at once! I couldn't remember his face now, but now I do. He's the one who separated us!"

"Look, see, I'm not telling you nothin'! I didn't see anything, so move aside!"

Lucy shook her head, "If you want to keep stealing, you'll have to go through us! Go, Willow!"

Willow was ready, jumping forward and charging a piercing gaze so angry it could have paralyzed the grunt like a Glare attack

The grunt's red face went all flustered and he hastened to his belt to grab a Pokéball, "Ah, shoot— umm, Poochyena, go!"

A cute, black Pokémon with a grey mane came out of the grunt's Pokéball and snarled at both of them. It was just as, if even more, menacing than its trainer.

Lucy beckoned to her Pokémon, "Go on, Willow, show them what you've got!"

Willow wasted no time, using the exact same technique on Poochyena that she'd been using all day on wild Pokémon and trainers who challenged them to battles. The Poochyena took it just like all the others did—it fainted instantly.

"Good job, Willow!" Lucy cheered. Willow took out Poochyena without even breaking a sweat, as per usual with battles involving her.

The defeated grunt withdrew his fallen Poochyena and clenched his fists, "Gah! You've gotta be kidding me, beaten by some dumb kid? Whatever, I'm out of here!"

"Wait! Where are the rest of my Pokémon?!" Lucy yelled, but the grunt wouldn't stop his trail out of the forest.

Lucy didn't get her answer, and the grunt faded into the darkness.

After all the calamity was over, Lucy turned her attention to the man who was initially being targeted by the Team Aqua grunt. He was short and stocky, looking like he belonged anywhere but the middle of the forest.

"Thank you, thank you so much," the man said happily, "That ruffian chased me all the way into this forest! And all for some blueprints!"

As sympathetic as Lucy was to the man's case, she decided to use the moment of victory to ask some questions she'd never have to confidence to do otherwise.

"Do you have any idea where he could be headed next?" Lucy implored, "I _really_ need to talk to him"

The gentleman shook his head and frowned. Figuring it was the only lead she was going to get, Lucy decided to drop it and helped the man out of the forest with any harm or foul.

The duo exited Petalburg woods and went onwards towards Rustboro, but with much less enthusiasm. Both Lucy and Willow were feeling frustrated for having been so close to finding the lost Pokémon, but no dice. It was discouraging for Lucy, thinking about how scared the campers must be, but it must have been even more devastating for Willow, who was double worried for her friends. Lucy didn't know much about the Pokémon yet, but that worry in some manner felt like a shared burden.

Upon arriving in Rustboro, the team took a quick rest at the Pokémon center and then felt at a loss for what to do next. Looking at a map of the Hoenn region on the wall, all Lucy could think was how the lost Pokémon could be _anywhere_. She felt like a young girl in the detective novels she used to read as a kid, but much, _much_ less glamorous.

Then, while sitting on a table by their lonesome, Willow and Lucy were approached by a hardy gentleman wearing a large set of hiking equipment. He had a huge grin, and looked happier than an Aipom just to be alive.

He startled them both with his powering voice, "Hello! You two look like you need a pick-me-up. How about a battle?"

At this point, being challenged by random trainers wasn't not a new phenomenon to Lucy anymore. Apparently it was common for all traveling trainers, though Lucy had no idea before. She nodded and agreed to the hiker's challenge, both of them going outside as not to create any chaos inside the Pokémon Center.

The Hiker sent out a Geodude, a rock type Pokémon with two bouldering muscle arms. Lucy was familiar with the type matchup, and even though Rock was strong against Fire, Lucy could never forget Willow's Double Kick attack, which kicked the Geodude into next week. Lucy almost wished the battle was more of a challenge. Willow herself was started to seem bored, especially given her disappointment with Team Aqua.

"Whoa!" The hiker chuckled after the battle was over, "That was some mighty fine battling you did there, young lady. Never seen a Ponyta take down a rock like Geodude so quickly before in all my days!"

Lucy bowed politely, "Thank you sir. Willow here does most of the work, though."

"Hah! I know that feeling." he replied, "Say, you know what? With a strong Pokémon like that, I bet you'd do swell against the Rustboro town Gym Leader, Roxanne."

Willow had heard that name before. Roxanne was a friend of Professor Birch, as most of the Gym Leaders in Hoenn were. Though Lucy had never met her, she knew that she used rock type Pokémon like the one they'd just battled.

"Oh, I don't know if Willow is ready for—"

"GYM LEADER?!" Willow gasped and pranced around, "Ooh, a _real_ gym battle?! Can we do it, Lucy? Please please pleeeease?"

Lucy was puzzled, wondering how Willow was even familiar with the concept of battle gyms and earning badges when she'd only lived at the day care. But then again, Willow was surprising her more and more the longer that they knew each other.

The hiker scratched his beard, "Looks like your mind was made up for ya! Anywho, I got some trails to hike, take care."

The Hiker tipped his hat, and walked off into the Pokémon Center to heal up his Geodude.

After the man left, Lucy took Willow aside and knelt down to her level, as was taught to her by Professor Birch in training. "Willow, why do you want to fight a Gym Leader? They're really tough, and we have your friends to find..."

"But Lucy, look at me! I took down that Geodude in two hits! C'mon, can't I go? It'll be funnn..."

Willow gave Lucy the baby-doll-eyes in an attempt to woo her over. And as much as Lucy didn't want to admit it, it was working.

Lucy rebottled, "Willow, I'm sorry, but-"

"—This is still Camp Littleroot, right? We used to do all sorts of fun battles together at camp. This is no different, right?"

It was true, battling was an activity she had planned with the campers, but it was nothing near the level of a real gym battle. Lucy contemplated whether or not this was a good idea. On one hand, it would be a fun activity, but what about the other Pokémon? Wouldn't they be missing out?

"Willow, why don't we wait until we find all your friends, and then we'll come back here and all battle the Gym Leader together. Promise."

Willow put her hoof down in defiance.

"But I want to battle noowwww, I'm ready! I haven't even lost once!" Willow pleaded, "Can I just try? And if I lose, we don't have to go back."

Lucy thought long and hard, but eventually, those adorable eyes of Willow's won her over. They were too convincing.

"...Oh, alright. Just one battle."

"Yay! Yay! Oh I'm so happy I want to start singing the Camp Littleroot theme song. You know it, right, Lucy?"

"You mean…" Lucy thought, starting to sing softly, " _To Littleroot we go, to Littleroot we go—_ "

"— _HIGH HO THE MERRY O TO LITTLEROOT WE GO_!"

Lucy couldn't deny the joy she felt seeing Willow so happy, especially given how much they'd already been through. Maybe a gym battle was exactly what they needed to get back into feeling better about all the lost Pokémon.

In unison, both Willow and Lucy began singing the Camp Littleroot theme song:

 _To Littleroot we go!_  
 _To Littleroot we go!_  
 _High-ho the merry-oh, To Littleroot we go!_ _  
_ _To save the day we go!_  
 _To save the day we go!_  
 _High-ho the merry-oh, to save the day we go!_  
 _O some may call us small,_  
 _And some may call us frail,_  
 _But with some luck, we'll kick your butts!_  
 _And we will never fail!_

 _Sound off!_  
 _1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6_  
 _LITTLEROOT!_


	3. Chapter 3: vs Roxanne!

**Chapter 3:** vs. Roxanne!

Willow practically dragged Lucy to the gym without giving Lucy much extra time to train at all, though she felt pretty confident she didn't need it. It was true, Willow was undefeated thus far, but Lucy had worked with Gym Leaders before and they were nothing to fool around with. Lucy worried this battle was either going to accelerate Willow's confidence to high levels, or completely destroy it.

They approached the inside of the gym and were greeted by the gym trainers, all using Geodude, and Willow tore through them once again like they were made of jelly. There weren't many gym trainers, and when they were defeated, they all collectively gave Lucy a bow and went to fetch their Leader.

"Ready, Willow?" Lucy asked, crouching to her level.

"I was born ready! Look at these legs- pow, pow pow!"

Willow did a little twirl in midair and showcased her high energy that hadn't settled for a single moment since they'd decided to tackle this gym. Lucy herself wasn't sure what exactly to prepare for, other than a battle that might test her ability as a trainer. And to that extent, her ability to find the other lost Pokémon.

A woman with bopped hair and a delicate blue skirt suit entered the arena, and every soul in the room turned quiet. Even Willow took small steps behind Lucy, quivering slightly. Lucy reassured her with a scratch on the neck, though it wasn't enough to even calm her own nerves. The woman demanded a commanding presence that was undeniable by just one look in her eyes.

The Gym Leader put her hands confidently on her sides and smiled, "Welcome to the Rustburo Gym, challenger. I'm Roxanne."

Lucy bowed, and Willow promptly followed suit. She didn't know what to say back, so she just said what she'd been saying since her journey started.

"Hi, I'm Lucy. I'm the head counselor at Camp Littleroot. And… I guess recently… a trainer."

Roxanne's eyes widened, "Camp Littleroot? That's Professor Birch's camp, right? I guess you and I are both teachers in our own way!"

Lucy grinned, "Yeah, I guess we both are!"

The kindness from Roxanne put Lucy at ease, expecting previously that she might be a strict and scolding teacher that gave out lashes and F grades. But thankfully, that was not the case at all.

"Teachers we may be," Roxanne continued, "a battle is a battle. And I won't be holding back, especially with a colleague. Now, how many Hoenn league Gym Badges do you have already?"

Lucy went cold for a moment, thinking she might have done something wrong.

"Uh...none, I guess." Lucy said, nervously chuckling.

"That's quite fine!" the kind lady replied, "a Gym Leader is prepared for all types of challengers."

Roxanne took two Pokéballs from her belt and handed the other four to a gym trainer for safe keeping. Lucy didn't even want to _think_ about what kind of Pokémon she was going to hold back, let alone the ones she was planning on using.

"How does a two-on-two battle sound to you?" Roxanne asked Lucy confidently.

Lucy turned to Willow and scratched behind her ear, "Well, the thing is I only have one Pokémon. This is Willow."

Willow smiled and an gave Roxanne a welcoming jump. Roxanne waved back, but didn't change her serious demeanor.

"Sorry, I'm afraid that per the league rules, I'll have to use at least two Pokémon against first-time challengers. To win your badge, you'll have to defeat two of my Pokémon. Is that alright?"

Willow stood by Lucy's side and nodded in agreement. In Lucy's mind, if Willow thought she could do it, then they could do it. At least, that's what she had gathered from her journey thus far.

Lucy nodded, "Yeah, that'll be fine. We can do it."

Roxanne smiled, "Excellent. Well then Lucy, I'm very excited to see how you and your Pokémon battle."

With that cue, all the other trainers in the room vacated to the sidelines. One young boy stood between them with his hands to his side, acting as the referee. Lucy felt her palms turning into ice. It was happening. She was challenging a gym.

The referee called out the rules of battle, but all Lucy could hear was the inner dialogue inside her worrying about Willow and being afraid of what Roxanne was going to do. But this was for Willow, she had to give it her all and lead her to victory, just like any trainer would.

"This will be a two on one battle against Roxanne, leader of the Rustboro city Gym, and the challenger Lucy. The Gym Leader may not make substitutions!"

The ref raised his hand in the air and yelled, "BEGIN!"

Roxanne diligently reached for the Pokéball attached to her waist and threw it in the air, yelling, "Geodude, go!"

Thankfully, it was a Pokémon that both Lucy and Willow were already familiar with handling. Geodude came out the Pokéball and crashed hard on the ground, creating a small tremor.

Lucy returned the call, "Alright Willow, you're up!"

Willow raced from Lucy's side and jumped into center stage, staring down the Geodude she was about to battle. This may be another Geodude, but it was clear Roxanne's was nothing to toy with.

"Lucy, you may have the first move." Roxanne declared.

She couldn't believe she was doing it, but without even thinking, Lucy pointed forward and ordered her first attack against Gym Leader Roxanne.

"Alright then, Willow, use Double Kick!"

Geodude took a hard blow and was knocked backwards, quickly gravitating back to its usual stance. It didn't react the same as other Geodude they had battled at all, it was far more defensive and resilient.

Roxanne held a thumbs up, "That was a pretty powerful hit! I see now why you brought a fire type to this gym. A fighting type move like Double Kick is a great way to turn the tide to your favor."

Lucy blushed, as if she'd just been given a gold star by a classroom teacher.

Roxanne continued with a harder brow, "But we won't be going down that easy! Geodude, Rock Tomb!"

Pounds of heavy rock lifted off the ground and were hurled towards Willow, who stood steadfast and took the hit, just as well as Geodude took the hit before her. Lucy's heart skipped a beat when the move was launched, but Willow was still standing.

"Good job, Willow!" Lucy cheered to her partner. "Now, let's use—"

But, just as Lucy was giving her attack, Roxanne reached into her back pocket and grabbed what looked like a tiny spray bottle, and threw it into the air, which released a cooling mist that surrounded Geodude and restored its health. Geodude instantly shook it off, and looked completely unhinged, as if the battle was starting all over again.

"What was that?" Lucy asked, a little embarrassed she had no idea.

"That was a Potion!" Roxanne answered, "Lesson 4: a good trainer takes advantage of items in their bag to assist their Pokémon in battle."

It was the first time in Lucy's short journey that she'd ever seen a trainer use medicine in the middle of battle like that. It only ingrained in her mind how much she still had to learn about being a trainer in the first place.

Willow stomped her feet, unwavering despite still weakened from the previous hit. Lucy didn't break her confident smile, hoping it would rub off on Willow and boost her confidence.

"So you healed your Geodude? That's fine, we can handle it! Hit it again, Willow!"

"You got it, boss!" Willow cheered.

Willow lunged forward and thrusted yet another powerful Double Kick, just as it looked as though one more hit would have done in Geodude, Roxanne pulled out yet another potion and surrounded her Pokémon in the comforting mist, healing it once again.

"Another one?" Lucy sighed.

Roxanne giggled, "Don't worry, I'm only permitted to use two. No more tricks, it's time to see how our Pokémon face one on one! Your Ponyta is very fast, but you should be careful, I doubt it can take another hit from my powerful Rock attacks."

"Then I guess we're going to take that chance!" Lucy taunted.

With all her strength, Willow leaped into the air and fell down onto the Geodude with another powerful kick. It was apparent that Willow had used her complete strength, using all of her momentum to make sure Geodude never had another chance to recover and retaliate.

The opposing Geodude fell backwards, utterly exhausted. Willow had won the first match up.

The referee called out loudly, "Geodude is unable to battle, which means the winner is Ponyta!"

"Good job, Willow!" Lucy clapped, to which Willow turned around and gave Lucy a confident nod.

Roxanne withdrew her fallen Pokémon. She surprisingly calm about the whole thing.

"Wow! You're raised your Pokémon well," she said, "my Rock types are very susceptible against opponents with fast speed..."

She paused, clutching the second Pokéball from her belt, "But that's why I have one more Pokémon! To the front of the class, Nosepass!"

Nosepass was sent out, a Pokémon with seemingly smaller size than Geodude, but something neither Lucy or Willow have ever seen before. It was in the shape of a sharply carved stone, but had a large and foreboding nose that covered most of its face. Lucy was familiar with most of Hoenn's natives, but not this one.

Lucy gasped, "I've never seen that Pokémon before! It must be rare in this region."

"Indeed it is!" Roxanne answered with a smirk, "Alright Nosepass, your foe is weak, let's finish this off!"

"Lucy!" Willow communicated from the arena, "Do you have a Potion? I think I could use one."

Lucy nodded, figuring out that the items she kept in her bag must have been that machine Roxanne used earlier. She had a few she kept with her for medical safety, but had never seen them used in battle this way before. She threw the item into the air, imitating Roxanne's actions exactly hoping they would have the same effect. Thankfully it did, as Willow reacted in a similar way Geodude had, and was healed completely.

"Very smart!" Roxanne said from across the arena. "An intelligent use of healing item. Now Nosepass, hit her with your own Rock Tomb!"

Willow had expected the Rocks to hit this time, so she easily predicted Nosepass's actions and leaped to the side before the rocks tumbled her way. Lucy wanted to congratulate her, but the battle wasn't over yet.

"Nice one Willow, now counter with Double Kick!"

"Nosepass, harden!"

Nosepass's body had clenched tight, like it was expecting Willow's attack and was prepared to counter it. Willow wasn't used to fighting against opponents that didn't get KO'd in one or two hits, to date this was one of the most intense battles she's had.

"Willow! Don't let it get to you! Hit them with another Double Kick!"

"Right!"

Willow obeyed the command and attacked once more, but it wasn't as strong as her previous attacks were. Now in close range, Roxanne's Nosepass motioned downward and lunged a rock attack successfully at Willow, knocking her slightly backwards.

Willow took the hit just as well as she did against Geodude, and was still standing. The Double Kick had reached Nosepass and taken it down to critical health, which was apparent by the scratches on Nosepass's body and its slow movement. Both Pokémon were roughed up, the battle would have its winner shortly.

"It's been a while since I've had a battle this close!" Roxanne exclaimed energetically, "The Pokémon who lands the next move wins the battle. The stakes are high!"

"We can do it!" Lucy answered, "Willow is fast!"

Roxanne pointed down casually, "Or is she? Pay close attention— Rock Tomb is a move that lower's it's opponent's speed. If you ask me, this could go either way. Willow doesn't have the upper hand anymore, it's an equal playing field now. Just as planned."

Lucy looked at Willow, and what Roxanne was saying was true. She didn't look hurt, but she did look fatigued from the Rock Tombs she was hit with.

"Willow, are you ok? How are you feeling?"

Willow was holding on to her grip to the arena beneath her four feet. "I'm ok...we're going to win this. I just have to hit Nosepass before it hits me!"

"Don't push yourself, Willow! You've had to fight both of her Pokémon, it's ok if—"

"Alright, Nosepass!" Roxanne declared, "Use Rock Throw!"

Lucy reacted quickly, "Willow, quick! Double—"

But it was no use. Before Willow could react, Nosepass hurled several rocks her way and made her fall backwards, now losing her stance on the group and falling over onto her side. Lucy immediately panicked.

"Willow, no! Get up, you can do it!"

The referee raised his hands in the air, "Ponyta is unable to battle! Nosepass is the winner, which means the winner of this battle is Roxanne, the Rustboro City Gym Leader!"

Willow let out a hard exhale from her spot on the ground that made the dust rise up slightly. All Lucy could hear was Willow's soft voice whispering, "... _Darn it_."

And just like that, the battle was over. Willow smiled back at Lucy, and sat resting on the ground comfortably asleep. Lucy took out Willow's Pokéball and withdrew her, so she could get a much better recovery.

Roxanne withdrew her Nosepass and took several steps forward, her hands calmly at her side and a proud smile at her face.

"That was a wonderful battle," she said, "you and Willow are wonderful partners. You should be proud of yourself."

Lucy felt horrible. All this time she'd been hoping Willow could invisibly plow through a Gym Leader like she'd been doing with all the other trainers they'd fought so far. But they lost. She could help but feel disappointed.

"Hey now," Roxanne interrupted Lucy's pity-party, "There's no harm in losing. A loss only makes one grow stronger."

Lucy continued to look down, kicking her feet casually.

"So…does this mean it's over? I have to go to the next Gym Leader and lose too?"

"Oh, of course not!" Roxanne beamed happily, "Feel free to come back to the Rustboro Gym anytime you like. I'll be here waiting for you whenever you're ready."

Roxanne words helped, but it didn't feel nearly as good as a win.

The battle was now over, and Lucy nodded Pokéball. Thanking Roxanne once again for the battle, Lucy scurried to the nearby Pokémon center, protecting her exhausted and fainted Pokémon from further harm.


	4. Chapter 4: Rocking Horse!

**Chapter 4** : Rocking Horse!

The short walk to the Pokémon Center felt a walk across the sandy plains of the Unovian desert. All Lucy could do was hold Willow's small Pokéball in her hand and look down at it in deep, sad regret. What bothered her most was that challenging the Gym was Willow's own idea, and they were already in such a slump, but now all they felt was worse.

What hit Lucy hardest was that this was Willow's first defeat. In fact, it was her first time ever losing a battle too, even though she never thought she would ever win in the first place. They'd been doing so well so far, why couldn't they have just won this one too? Hadn't they been through enough?

Lucy gave Willow's Pokéball over to Nurse Joy and took a seat waiting for her to come back. Since Willow wasn't around, she used all the free time she had to have a good old fashioned pity party. She couldn't have one when Willow was around. It wouldn't do her good to see her camp counselor in such distress. When Willow come back, Lucy would have to console her too. She couldn't do that while couldn't even wrap her own head around anything. All Lucy wanted was shake it off and put on a happy face.

A bell dinged and Willow came back from her nap. Lucy popped her out of her Pokéball, preparing for the waterworks. She sat down, expecting Willow to run into her arms and cry, ranting in frustration all about how Nosepass cheated in their last battle.

But that didn't happen.

"OH MY GOSH! That was the best thing _ever_!" Willow exploded with gleeful energy, "Lucy! We have to go back! We've just GOT to! Come one, let's go right now!"

Willow was already halfway out the door before Lucy was snapped out of her pity party and beckoned her back.

"Wait—Wait, Willow!" she called quickly.

"Come on, Lucy! Let's go before she closes for the day!"

Willow was looking at Lucy with the most innocent, sweet little black eyes she'd seen yet. Unbeknownst to Lucy, who thought this was going to be a blow to Willow's confidence, it had apparently lifted her completely up. Lucy was utterly perplexed.

Lucy sighed, "Willow…I'm sorry about losing. I guess it was my fault."

"What are you talkin' about, Lucy?" Willow asked, just as confused, "I just didn't attack in time! I was about to win anyway, who cares?"

"You…really want to go again?"

"Uh _, yeah_!" Willow said sassily, "I've said it like 5 times already, let's go!"

Lucy just couldn't believe what she hearing. To her surprise, she was still learning things about Willow every second they were together, because she had only assumed the worst from this conversation. But Willow was doing better than Lucy was, and Lucy hadn't even been the one battling.

Willow looked confused, her head tilted to the side and her mouth clamped into a tiny 'o', "Lucy, what's wrong? Have you never lost a battle before?"

Lucy shook her head, "No, until we started this journey together, I'd never had a Pokémon battle in my life."

"OOOOOH!" Willow exhaled in realization, "Well then you never learned the first rule of losing!"

"The first rule of losing?"

"Yeah! That you never give up, and you always keep going! I mean... that's what I was taught by Mr. Caretaker."

Lucy never thought she'd be getting advice from a Pokémon, but Willow was such an original and high spirited Pokémon that it hardly came any surprise that _she'd_ be the one with the pep talk. And it was actually a pretty good one.

Lucy attempted to reason with Willow, testing whether or not she was just putting on a front to make Lucy feel better, "Why don't we just go back to looking for your friends? We don't need Gym Battles, let's just find everyone and get back to Littleroot."

Willow shook her head from side to side and put her hoof down, "No! Not before we finish our first camp activity!"

It was good so far, but now Lucy was lost.

"Camp…activity?" Lucy questioned.

"—This is Camp Littleroot!" Willow exclaimed, "Just because everyone's not here, I still think we should have a good time! And beating the gym is our first camp activity!"

Lucy giggled and finally admitted a smile, "I didn't know you still wanted camp to be on."

"Heck yeah it's on!" said Willow, "I— _we've_ all been looking forward to this for weeks! Plus I can't wait to rub it in everyone else's face when I show them the gym badge that I won. They're going to be _so jealous_!"

Willow's positive energy was addicting. Lucy couldn't help but feel the same kind of enthusiasm Willow had for battle, and it was a strange feeling Lucy wasn't familiar with, but it was still great. Willow was right—there was no reason they couldn't still have a good time. Battling the Gym Leader started as a way for them to cheer themselves up, and by golly, that's what they were going to do. And Lucy wasn't going to stop until they did.

"Ok, Willow," Lucy boldly stated, standing up firm on her feet from the Pokémon Center couch, "You're right. We're getting that gym badge! Right now!"

"YOU MEAN IT?!" Willow bursted, "YES! Let's go! Let's go!"

Lucy's inner camp counselor took over her and she started to get charged with energy, "First one to the Rustboro Gym wins an Ice Cream cone!"

"No way! I have four legs, you're going down!"

The doors to the Rustboro Gym busted open in a flash. Lucy and Willow stood side by side, ready to fight and win their gym badge with their new found jolt of confidence.

Gleaming to the back of the gym, it looked as though Roxanne was still there. She was talking to a Gym Trainer, who was holding some of her Pokéballs and nodding eagerly in conversation. Roxanne's back was turned, but Lucy could roughly make out what she was saying.

"—Thank you, Tommy, tell Nurse Joy I'll be over with Onix and Probopass after the gym closes. If any challengers come with 7 badges, I suppose I'll have to just settle with Aerodact—"

Then, almost on cue, all eyes, Leader and Trainers, turned to the doors where Camp Littleroot was approaching confidently.

Roxanne turned her head, "Lucy? You're back? That was fast."

Lucy nodded proudly, "Yup! We didn't want to wait."

"I just got my Pokémon back from the Pokémon Center as well…" Roxanne said holding her chin, "Did...you really want a rematch already?"

"You bet we do!" Lucy declared energetically. "Are you ready?"

Roxanne looked astonished, and so did the trainer students assisting her with her Pokémon.

"Forgive me for suggesting how to raise your own Pokémon," she said politely, "But wouldn't you want to train some more? Or perhaps catch another Pokémon? Unless you predict our battle will go differently."

Lucy nodded once again, sure of herself for the first time in months.

"I know it will! So what do you say? Want to go another round? If your Pokémon are ready, that is."

It took her a moment, but Roxanne gained that confident smile she had before their last battle. This one was stronger, like she getting ready to sweep with a perfect victory this time around.

"A Gym Leader is always prepared for a challenger. I accept. You better give my Pokémon an even bigger show than last time!"

Lucy raced to the starting line and held a hand in the air, "You know we will! Alright, Willow! I choose you!"

"Geodude, to the front of the class!"

The battle between Lucy and Roxanne waged longer than it did before. This time around, Lucy and Willow's passion for victory surpassed all the hesitation they had going up against Roxanne's rock-hard defenses. Willow's feet were moving like fast and flaming lightning bolts. She successfully dodged against all of Geodude's attacks, and before it even got a chance to hit Willow, she pummeled him with a hard hitting Double Kick that knocked it out in one single strike.

"That was a critical hit!" Roxanne said upon impact.

The referee declared Geodude unable to battle. The battle was halfway done, and Willow was in the peak of her condition, hardly feeling a scratch.

"One Pokémon left, and that badge is ours!" Lucy cheered.

Roxanne clutched her Pokéball, "I wouldn't be so quick to predict! We know your strategy well enough now. And we're prepared to deal with it, especially— NOSEPASS!" she yelled, releasing her Pokéball in the air and letting out her final, terrifying big-nosed Pokémon.

Roxanne was right, Lucy and Willow's strategy was predictable so far. What she didn't know was that Lucy was planning on introducing a new strategy and a new move, one that she had been thinking about ever since the end of their last battle. And right then and there, Lucy was readying to use it.

"You know Roxanne," Lucy smirked, "both of us are educators! And do you want to know what my favorite lesson I've learned on my journey so far?"

"Do tell!"

"Getting to know your Pokémon! Our problem last time was we only relied on one move. So that's why I'm trying a new strategy!"

Roxanne's eyebrow arched, and she even seemed impressed that Lucy had come to the gym with a brand new tactic.

Lucy reached her hand out and pointed directly at Nosepass, "Willow, use Tail Whip!"

Willow ran forward in her similar backwards motion, but instead of going for a kick, Willow used her fiery tail to swipe Nosepass straight in the face and lightly singe his big, rocky nose. Nosepass' reaction was brief, but similar to before, he had already appeared to be in a worse condition. If what Lucy learned from their last battle was true, Nosepass was only one hit away from defeat.

"Tail whip, huh?" Roxanne chuckled with satisfaction, "very clever! But we're prepared for that too— Nosepass, Harden!"

The attack was countered as Nosepass tightened its muscles in response to Willow's attack, rendering it ineffective. Willow hurried back to position, looking frustrated.

"That's ok, we'll just use it again!" Lucy declared.

Willow followed suit, crashing down on Nosepass from above with a rope of fire.

It was clear that Willow could have jumped and kicked all day, but Nosepass was a much slower Pokémon, and even Lucy could tell that its Harden attack wasn't something it could accomplish often enough to make a difference. Lucy had put Roxanne in the exact position she was hoping for.

"Alright then," Roxanne said, "Look likes there's no point playing tag. Get ready! Nosepass, Rock Tomb!"

Willow had been good at dodging the incoming attacks well so far, but this time she was not so lucky. Nosepass was quick, commanding the rocks to tumble towards Willow and trapping her in a small rocky fortress, which she leaped out of following impact. Willow was as weakened as she was in the last battle, and she wouldn't be able to handle another hit.

"You're a hard battler, Lucy!" Roxanne complimented, "But I'd guess this class is about to be dismissed. You're always welcome back at the Rustboro Gym at any time."

Willow was still standing on four legs. Her willpower didn't seem to have wavered at all. Lucy beginning to realize how exactly battling must feel like—for both trainer and Pokémon, the damage is shared if the bonds are strong. This was the first battle Lucy had with Willow where she could feel the attacks every time. It was like they were finally in sync with each other.

"Some may call us small, and some may call us frail, but with some luck we'll kick your butts and we will never fail!"

"What was that?" Roxanne asked.

"That was the Camp Littleroot song moto!" Lucy answered, "And we're going to sing it, then sing it again and then _again_ , after you give us that badge! Ready, Willow?"

"Ready!"

Willow cried out, scraping her hooves on the ground and focusing forward. There was only one attack left— it had to count. Nosepass was down in defense, but its health was still unscathed. Everything was up to this.

Lucy yelled out what she knew was going to be the final attack of the battle—and it _had_ to be in their favor.

"WILLOW, DOUBLE KICK!"

In one final swoop, Willow channeled all of her energy into her second kick and slammed Nosepass against the wall. With all of their energy combined, Willow had landed a hard critical hit against Nosepass, ending the battle instantly. Nosepass hit the ground hard, and the referee called the match.

"Nosepass is unable to battle, which means the winner of this battle is Lucy, the Challenger!"

Willow ran to Lucy and tackled her in jubilation. Both of them cheered, danced, and began reciting the Camp Littleroot moto off the top of their heads to celebrate. It was a powerful adrenaline rush Lucy didn't expect to have—she was the winner! She and Willow defeated the Gym Leader!

"Nosepass, return." Roxanne said.

Lucy couldn't believe it—with hardly any in-between time, they'd both won a gym badge, something Lucy never thought she'd do in a million years. It was, without a doubt, the happiest Lucy had ever felt in her entire life.

"My, my," Roxanne clapped, "I have to say, in all my time as a gym leader, there have only been a few times I've lost to a Fire-type Pokémon, but none when a Fire-type was the only Pokémon a challenger had! Your determination inspires me, Lucy."

"Don't forget Willow," Lucy giggled.

"Of course! Willow, you battled wonderfully!"

Willow blushed, and gave Roxanne a happy little twirl in response to her compliment.

"We did it! We did it! We won, we won!" Lucy cheered, prancing in circles around Willow like the fatigue from battle wasn't there.

Roxanne approached the celebrating team, followed by the battle's referee who was holding a shiny metal box. They opened it to show Rustboro City's league badge: The Stone Badge!

"As gym leader, it's my honor to present you with this badge. Congratulations, both of you."

Lucy picked up the badge slowly, wondering momentarily whether or not she was even allowed to. It was incredible. A few days ago, you wouldn't be able to catch Lucy battling Pokémon outside of getting a camper not to start a food fight. To think she had just defeated a Gym Leader, the most unexpected turn of events, was astonishing. It was unbelievable.

"Thank you, Roxanne. It was so much fun battling you."

"Where will you be heading to next?" Roxanne asked, "There are many other gyms in Hoenn. Will you be tackling them all? Will you take the Pokémon League Challenge?"

Lucy looked to Willow, who was looking up with beaming eyes of joy.

"I'm not sure yet," she answered, "But first and foremost, we have to find the other lost Pokémon. That's why I started this journey in the first place."

Roxanne gasped, "Lost Pokémon? How awful. I do hope you find them soon."

"Thanks. Maybe when I find them, I can come back, and we can have a rematch! Who knows what other kinds of Pokémon I'm going to find?"

"Looking forward to it!" Roxanne answered. And with a bow, a badge, and a handshake, Lucy and Willow left the Rustboro Gym.

Lucy couldn't stop staring at her newly obtained Stone Badge. Even if she never won another one in her life, just being able to say she had one was enough for her. Everything felt so surreal, as it was barely yesterday they had started adventuring, and now here they were. It felt like Lucy and Willow could get any closer.

"Lucy?" Willow asked, walking beside Lucy on the way back to the Pokémon center. She had remained strangely quiet since their victory at the gym.

"What is it, Willow?" Lucy chimed.

Willow stopped walking, and turned her full attention to Lucy. Her demeanor was different then before—it wasn't sad, instead far more serious, like she'd been rehearsing what she wanted to ask for hours.

"Lucy, you know how we won that battle, right?" Willow asked

Lucy smiled, "Right!"

"And you know how you take care of everyone at Camp Littleroot?"

"Of course!"

Willow paused, searching for her words,"I was wondering...I guess it's kinda silly, but..."

"—Go ahead, ask me anything. We're a team now!"

Willow's eyes widened, "Really? Because that's what I wanted to ask you...since we're not at the camp right now...do you think you—I mean, I—we, are..."

Lucy chuckled and rubbed Willow's head softly, bending down to show her a happy smile. "Spit it out, silly!"

"Am I...your Pokémon?"

Lucy didn't expect that. Up until this point she had already assumed such, but considering Willow had never had a trainer before, it made sense for her to ask.

Lucy's eyes widened, but it quickly melted into a smile. She knelt down with a smile and gave Willow a big, friendly hug. "Willow, I'd love to have you as one of my Pokémon. So long as you'd like me as a trainer!"

Willow grinned from ear to ear, "Really? So I'm not just a camper? I'm really, _really_ your Pokémon?!"

"Yup! And so will the rest of your friends, when we find them. We're in this together!"

Willow let out a jovial neigh, raising both her hooves up to tackle Lucy straight to the floor. "Yay yay yay yay yay! I have a trainer! I have a real trainer!"

Willow rushed in close to her trainer like she was cuddling a stuffed toy, rubbing their cheeks together and happily returning Lucy's hug as trainer and Pokémon.

The special moment the two shared in the streets was brief, but felt as though it could have lasted hours for how happy and victorious the two of them felt. But suddenly, the celebration was promptly interrupted by an outcry of distress and confusion coming from the building across the street. Both Lucy and Willow were startled out of their cuddle.

"Help! Please, don't take those goods!"

Lucy and Willow both stood up in vigilance and looked across the way. What they saw surprised both of them—it was the Team Aqua grunt they met in Petalburg Woods! But this time, hanging on desperately to his bandanna, was a small, barely visible, baby Ralts.

Willow jumped up from the ground of Lucy's hug and jolted forward, looking carefully with her eyes peeled. When she realized what she was looking at, Willow gasped so loudly she almost jumped straight into the air.

"Lucy!" Willow yelled.

"—What is it? What is it?"

"It's Palm! It's Palm! It's one of the other Pokémon!"


	5. Chapter 5: Keep Palm and Don't Panic!

**Chapter 5** : Keep Palm and Don't Panic!

"What?!"

Lucy had to shake her head back and forth and double take to understand what Willow had just told her.

"Palm! That was Palm!"

"WHAT?!"

Lucy couldn't help but repeat herself.

"Lucy! Lucy! Snap out of it!" Willow ordered, jumping up and down at Lucy, who was still collapsed on the street. "Palm is one of the lost Pokémon! He was coming with us to Camp Littleroot! That means pirate man has him!"

Lucy barely caught a glimpse of the man in passing, but the person chasing after him was more familiar, being the exact same business man who had previously been jumped in Petalburg Woods. Lucy started to piece two and two together, needing a second to flip her mind back into serious mode. She finally stood up on both feet and regained her balance.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"I'm positive!"

Lucy ran around the corner to see him, but he had already shot past. The Team Aqua grunt had already left Rustboro City, and was headed into the unknown territory of Route 116. They would have to chase after him.

"So that Pokémon attached to his bandana—that was a Ralts?"

Willow nodded quickly, "Yeah, but we call him Palm. He's the least experienced out of all of us at battling—I don't even think he's done it before! I can't believe that gross guy took him!"

"I thought all of the Pokémon ran off because they were scared?"

"It makes sense that Palm wouldn't. He's too timid and clingy, and he hates being by himself. Oh…that CREEP! I hate that guy! That's it, we're going after him!"

Willow bolted in front, standing sideways and motioning to her back and shaking nervously from the angry adrenaline rush.

"Lucy, hop on! We'll chase after him!"

Lucy nodded, without even thinking.

"Right!"

With Lucy now on Willow's sturdy back, the two were off in a flash. The two sped out of Rustboro City and onto the road leading forward. Lucy could tell by the frantic footprints in the dusty sand, and the confusion on traveling trainer's faces, that they were going the right way. Sooner or later they'd catch the Team Aqua grunt at a dead end.

A passerby lady yelled at Lucy and Willow as they flew by, "He ran into the Rusturf tunnel!" to which Lucy nodded and waved in gratitude. When they turned the corner and the entrance to the tunnel was in sight, Willow hustled speed, using twice the energy she used the last Gym battle, getting an adrenaline rush from the high energy fuel.

Eventually, they stopped at the end of the path, at the entrance to the dark, quiet place. By the signs scattered about, and the leftover construction equipment sitting in plastic bins, they had arrived at the Rusturf Tunnel, the pathway connecting one half of Hoenn with the other. Luckily, Lucy had heard from the newspaper that the construction had stopped, which meant that somewhere deep in the tunnel, there was going to be dead end where they would catch the bad guy before he could get away. And if they were lucky, they could rescue Palm.

As soon as they stepped foot into Rusturf Tunnel, Lucy hopped off Willow's back and they both raced further in to find the perpetrator. Lucy was so full of energy and headstrongness, both from her win at the Gym and hearing they'd found another Pokémon, that she was running even faster than Willow was on four legs.

After a breathy jog, they finally caught up to the end of the zone, seeing the red-faced man huffing, puffing, sweating, and panting. He was leaning up against a rock wall, his hands glued to his knees. Meanwhile on his back, curled up like a baby bird, was a little Ralts, who looked absolutely petrified.

"HEY!" Lucy yelled at the grunt.

When the greasy man turned around to Lucy and Willow, his eyes widened and he grabbed a nearby boulder for protection.

"Gah!" he exhaled, "How did you follow me in here?!"

Lucy clenched her fists and pointed urgently, "You have one of my Pokémon! Let them go!"

Willow screamed and neighed, which echoed through the tunnel and made the all of the wild Whismur flee.

"PALM!" she yelled.

A little head crept out from behind the Grunt's blue bandana and whispered, "W-Willow? Is that you?"

The grunt shook his head which made the baby Ralts cling on tight to his bandana. His fearful expression started boiling into rage.

"Gah, this is hopeless! The boss said this would be no big deal, but now here I am with two stolen Pokémon and a tunnel that leads to nowhere!"

"Two Pokémon?!" Lucy blurted, "Who else do you—"

"—PEEKOOOO!"

Another voice chimed through the entire tunnel. It was an older man, and he sounded desperate for a reply.

The Grunt slapped his forehead with his palm and whimpered, "You've gotta be kidding me..."

From behind Lucy, an old rugged man came limping into the tunnel. He was short and bald with a thick white beard, but had a fit body that gave the impression he'd lived a very active life in his younger days.

"Peeko! Peeko, where are you?!"

Responding to the call, from behind the grunt in a spot of darkness that Lucy couldn't see, was a small yet welcoming little Wingull. It looked beyond confused and blissfully ignorant to what was going on.

"You there!" the old man declared to the Aqua grunt, "Let my poor Peeko go!"

Lucy jolted around. "Peeko? So he stole a Pokémon from you too?"

"That's right!" he answered aggressively, "Now let my poor Peeko go or you'll regret it! I'm friends with the Elite Four, you know!"

The grunt was frantic, looking back and forth between Peeko and its trainer, looking a hybrid emotion of panic and anger.

"Look, you pests!" he whined, "I don't have time to deal with this! Your Pokémon are property of Team Aqua now—I think—I DON'T KNOW!"

Willow scoffed and stuck her nose up in disgust, "Wow, this guy doesn't even know how to steal Pokémon correctly."

"—How could you steal someone else's Pokémon?!" Lucy yelled angrily, "I thought your group wanted to make the ocean bigger or something stupid!"

Lucy only had a vague understanding of what exactly Team Aqua _was._ Team Aqua, and its rival opposition Team Magma, had been causing a stir in the Hoenn region and doing all kinds of weird things in the name of their own teams and leaders. Lucy remembered reading about some odd instance of Team Aqua putting up flyers all over Lilycove City about _Expanding The Ocean!_ , but it she'd never paid any mind to their odd behavior until it had just started interfering with her own life.

The Grunt exhaled, "Look I didn't want to steal this little dude, he just… thought I was his trainer or something! Now he won't leave me alone! Shelly said I could keep it, okay? I don't know!"

"What about Peeko?! You took his Pokéball right out of my pocket!" the old man butted in.

"I was being chased by some crazy scientist! He probably had an Alakazam or something, I needed Pokémon to—"

He let out a strange noise that could only be compared to a fart.

"—GAHH! WHY AM I EXPLAINING MYSELF TO YOU?! I'm the bad guy, and I'll whip your butts so shoo!"

"We're not going anywhere!" Lucy said in defiance. Willow responded with an aggressive cry and the fire along her back flared .

The sweaty and pathetic grunt crossed his eyebrows and punched the boulder he was trapped against in a fit of rage.

"That's it! Both of you, bug off and leave me alone! Go, Poochyena!"

The grunt's Poochyena was released from a Pokéball, and Willow herself immediately responded, but instead of charging at the opposing Pokémon, she ran straight towards the grunt and head-butted him hard against the boulder. Palm the Ralts flew off of the man's bandanna and landed safely on Willow's back. The Grunt writhed in pain, and Willow came trotting back with her reunited buddy.

The tackle to the gut also gave time for Peeko to flee from his captivity, and a confused and giddy Wingull flew away from the Grunt and was greeted by the now happy old man. Both looked beyond happy to be reunited, like they hadn't seen each other for years.

The wounded grunt, now moaning on the cave floor, and his Poochyena was running in circles confused how it was supposed to assist. One look at Willow and the Poochyena didn't even want to bother fighting.

Willow turned her head around and grew a smile at the sight of her friend.

"Palm, are you okay?" she asked.

The Ralts shivered and looked up nervously at Lucy, clinging to Willow's neck. "W-Who are t-these people...W-Willow?"

Lucy knelt down on one knee and smiled at Palm, "I'm Lucy, I'm Willow's Pokémon trainer. I'm also in charge of Camp Littleroot—we've been looking all over for you!"

"R-Really?"

"HEY! I'm still here, you know!"

From the ground, the Team Aqua member limped to his feet and started rubbing his wounded belly.

"Yeah, but nobody wants you to be," Willow huffed.

"That's it…I'm through with this Team Aqua nonsense. I can't do anything right! I quit!"

He attempted to run away, but Lucy and Willow both blocked his path with their penetrating stare. Lucy wasn't going to let him get away so easily this time.

"No!" Lucy barked, "You're going to tell me _exactly_ what you know about where _every single one of my Pokémon_ ran off to! They're lost, and it's _your_ fault! Now TALK!"

Palm clasped his mouth with his little tiny hands "L-Lost…P-Pokémon?"

"If told you once, I told you a thousand times! I. DON'T KNOW. ANYTHING!" the man screamed. "I didn't see where any of them went, get it?"

"Why didn't you tell us you knew where Palm was back in Petalburg Forest then? You had him the entire time!"

The grunt's pupils narrowed and he broke a sweat. "Uh…well, Ralts is a rare Pokémon, and I, uh…"

"THAT'S IT!" Willow hissed, "HE'S GETTING ANOTHER HEADBUTT!"

Willow started scratching the tunnel floor with her hoof, and the grunt reacted immediately. Before Lucy could continue her questioning, he yelled for mercy and bolted away, followed faithfully by his timid Poochyena.

Lucy ground her teeth in anger, wishing had a superpower and could grab him with a giant fist and squeeze him until he started talking. But even though he was running away, Lucy hardly cared, because he was getting on her last nerve anyway.

"YEAH, YOU BETTER RUN!" Willow shouted into the empty space.

While this argument was happening, Palm had been clutching the back of Willow's neck for comfort like it was a plush toy. He clearly didn't like the yelling, but appeared to be relieved that all of it was over.

"You alright back there?" Willow asked her little friend.

"I…I guess…but…"

Palm paused, now sitting down comfortably on the back of Willow since the commotion was all over.

"Where's…where's everyone else?"

Figuring she'd be the best one to help, Lucy knelt down on one knee so she could talk to Palm face to face.

"Well," Lucy whispered, "They're…lost. Just like you were."

"N-No!"

"—It's OK! It's OK! We're going to find them, just like we found you!"

Willow turned her head and nuzzled Palm with her nose in an attempt to cheer him up. Much to Lucy's relief, it seemed to work.

"Don't worry Palm, Lucy is really nice! And we've been having a lot of fun stil. And we even defeated a _Gym Leader_ together!"

Palm put his tiny hands to his mouth, "Whoa...a Gym Leader? All by yourself, Willow...?"

"You know it! And I couldn't have done it without Lucy, the best trainer in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!" Willow said with a playful neigh.

Lucy blushed and scratched the back of her head.

"Palm, you've gotta come with us!" Willow continued, "This year's Camp Littleroot is being taken on the road, while we look for everybody else!"

Willow's natural enthusiasm appeared to have noticeable impact on Palm, but it wasn't enough to break his frown. He looked very upset, far more so than Willow ever was when thinking about her lost friends. Palm's emotions clearly ran far deeper than Lucy could see on the surface.

"I just…" Palm said tearfully, "I just _really_ want to find Cyp—"

"—Did you say something about missing Pokémon, darling?!"

The old man, who had been busy spending time with his Wingull, suddenly interrupted the gang, shifting everyone's attention.

Lucy bowed her head, realizing she'd never actually introduced herself, "Oh, yes sir. Sorry, my name is Lucy. This is Willow and Palm."

The man stepped forward and forced Lucy into an adamant handshake, "Aye! The name's Briney! Mr. Briney!"

Both Willow and Palm gave motions of greeting, and Mr. Briney stepped over to both of them, giving them soft pats on the head. Both of their cheeks turned bright Red, and Palm burried his head into Willow's fur like a pillow out of nervousness.

"Now, what's this you're saying about lost Pokémon?"

"Oh! Well, um…because of Team Aqua, it seems most of my Pokémon have gone missing."

Mr. Briney shook his head and his eyebrows arched. He appeared to have a million impolite words floating around in his head.

"Worry no more, Lass," he replied. "You brought me back with my darling Peeko! Now I will return the favor!"

Lucy moved her hands rapidly back and forth, and her cheeks turned pink. "N-No you don't have to do that! I'm sure they'll just—"

"I'll hear no refusal! You will hop on my boat and I'll take you across the sea to find them!"

"O-Oh sir it's ok, we can just head north for Meteor Falls, and—"

Palm interrupted, "A-Actually, Miss Lucy, I think one of the Pokémon might like swi—" but was quickly stopped by Lucy covering his mouth while he continued to speak.

Lucy laughed nervously, partially afraid of this grown stranger offering her a ride, "Oh no please, it's really no trouble for us to just walk…"

"I insist! Now, you meet me on the shore shack by Petalburg and we'll set sail! What say you?"

Lucy had no experience taking the kind offers of strangers, but being in such an awkward position in the middle of a dark tunnel, she figured she might as well take whatever help she could get. She nodded back with urgency.

"Excellent! You just swing by whenever you wish to set sail. Good day, Lass! See you before dusk, aye?"

Lucy tried to stop him, but she was very professionally ignored. Mr. Briney exited the cave like he was deaf in both ears.

Back the Pokémon center, Nurse Joy tended to Palm's minor bruises and Willow's fatigue from all of her hard work. Before they set off to sail the seas with Mr. Briney, Lucy thought it would be a good idea to take a short break and let everyone calm down from their busy day. But most importantly, she wanted to get to know Palm a little bit more.

According to Palm's recount, Team Aqua grunt hadn't been taking care of Palm very well. He had been forced into more than a few rough battles against tough trainers. After Willow had finished bragging about her success stories in battle, Palm decided to take it upon himself to share the exact opposite.

"—and then h-he made me use confusion...but it didn't work right…and then Absol hit me and it really hurt..." He cried to Lucy, who had Palm on her lap, scratching his head.

"It's okay, sweetie. He's gone now. Willow gave him a good kick in the stomach, right Willow?"

"I sure did!" Willow cheered confidently, kicking her hind legs in the air to demonstrate. "Palm, if you can remember, can you tell us where the others ran off to? I was in my Pokéball the whole time. Actually, wasn't everyone?"

"Y-Yeah, you were," Palm said. "I remember, because he sent mine out first. I remember seeing all your Pokéballs on the ground, but I don't remember what happened to them. I thought that scary man was taking us to Summer Camp s-so I went with him. I'm really sorry, Willow..."

Willow smiled, "It's okay buddy, at least you're here now!"

"Willow is right." Lucy said. "And now that you're here, we're going to have lots of fun! Before you know it, everyone will be reunited and we can go back to Littleroot to start our summer!"

Palm smiled, and gave Lucy a tiny little hug while standing on her lap.

"That's makes me happy. D-Do you think I could fight a Gym Leader too?"

"You really want to, Palm?!" Willow said excitedly.

Palm began to blush again, now having so much excitement put on him. But he quickly recovered and continued to speak.

"Well…maybe not right away…but if you can do it, maybe I can too…?"

"You bet!" Lucy cheered, "I bet you're stronger than you think!"

Palm smiled, now looking immensely happier than when they were in the tunnel. Lucy could tell that she would have to take a far different approach to communicating with Palm than she had with Willow, but that only made the possibility of becoming an even stronger trainer. And that, surprisingly, was something Lucy was really looking forward to.

Willow started hopping up and down like her usual active self. She looked ecstatic to have another member on the team.

"Hey Palm!" Willow said, "You should have Lucy give you your own Pokéball! Then it'll be official!"

Palm gasped, "Really? So… you get to be my trainer?!"

Hearing Palm ask the same timid question that Willow had asked her before made Lucy's heart melt. She started pulling a spare Pokéball out of her bag before she even responded.

"Yup! Mean, if you want to be," Lucy answered, holding out the Pokéball steadily in the palm of her hand.

Palm nodded fiercely, like he'd been waiting to belong to a trainer for his entire life. He leaped forward to press the button the Pokéball, opening the contraption and zooming inside. The ball didn't even shake once before Palm was officially caught.

Palm immediately popped himself back out of the Pokéball back onto Lucy's lap. He hugged Lucy once more, pressing tightly into her stomach.

"Thank you…" he whispered.


	6. Chapter 6: Epic Flail!

**Chapter 6** : Epic Flail!

It was half reluctance and half relief that Lucy took Mr. Briney up on his offer to leave the main land of Hoenn and travel all the way across the sea to Dewford Town. On one hand, boats made her nauseous, and she highly doubted any of the missing Pokémon could have swum all the way to an island in the middle of the sea all by themselves. But on the other hand, her two current Pokémon seemed eager to explore anything they could stick their noses into, and Lucy couldn't deny it would be a nice change of scenery from all the trees and grass. After all, if anything, it was a free trip to the beach.

Surprisingly, Lucy found herself making nice conversation with Mr. Briney. Both of them laughed at how silly Peeko looked flying high above the boat and crying out to the trainers and swimmers out in the ocean. Both Willow and Palm were cautious around the edges of the boat, but especially Willow really seemed to enjoy her fur blowing the wind as they sailed with the wind across the fresh untouched sea.

Palm was perking up the more he and Lucy warmed up to each other. From what she'd gathered about him so far, he was the polar opposite of Willow, who charged into all of her battles head on. Palm hadn't battled yet, and he wasn't really jumping up and down to do so. He was reserved, and very cautious. He constantly needed something to hold on to, and whenever he had to stand on his own, he froze up. Lucy wasn't sure how his first battle was going to go, but she was going to play it by ear.

As Dewford Island became visible over the horizon of the crystal sea, Lucy almost found herself disappointed that she'd have to get off. She had even forgotten about being sea sick. Something about the fresh air and bright Hoenn sunshine made her forget about all of her worries, her responsibilities, and the constant self-doubt that she was even doing the right thing. Out in the sea, everything else just felt so small. It was an addicting feeling.

When they eventually arrived in Dewford, which felt like it could have lasted for hours, Lucy and her Pokémon hopped off the boat and bid Mr. Briney farewell to explore the new area. He informed them he'd wait for them to take them to Slateport City. The opportunity of getting another ride was delightful.

Willow walked by Lucy's side as usual, and Palm took a comfortable spot resting on Lucy's shoulder. They could have been cramped up in their Pokéballs, but that wouldn't have been as nearly as fun.

"So," Lucy said, looking at the quaint village they'd arrived at, "What first? There's a Gym here, and that could be fun. But I think it's best to wait for that, after all, this place shouldn't be that difficult to scour, in case one of your friends is here. Plus, we still haven't had a battle with you yet, Palm."

"I don't know if I'm any good..." Palm sighed, "The mean man said I couldn't battle my way out of a Dunsparce's mouth...whatever that means."

"Don't believe that guy, Palm!" Willow interjected, "You may not be a good battler now, but we have Lucy now! Just you wait, you'll be knocking down foes before you know it!"

Palm smiled and covered his mouth with a blush, "Thanks, Willow."

The trio chose to visit the actual town and Dewford at a later time, and instead decided to take a stroll down the beach to see what could be seen. The walk and conversation had led them out of town and into the secluded beach on the outskirts of the island. Besides the fishermen and wild Krabby crawling their way back to the sea, the only noticeable land mark was an alarmingly ambiguous cave that seemed to stretch all the way out to the other side of the beach, with seemingly no exit.

Lucy put her hands behind her back and quivered her legs a little bit, "Do you think they could be in there?"

Palm clung to Lucy's ear and shook his head, "I-In that scary cave? No way...Mr. Caretaker always told us to stay out of dark and scary places."

Willow jumped forward in confidence and faced the cave head-on, "Oh, c'mon! Even if nobody is in there, I bet there's some tough Pokémon just waiting to get pulverized by my hooves! We have to go inside!"

One of the fisherman nearby seemed to be aware of Lucy's dilemma, and jumped from reeling in his line to get up from his spot and walk over, "Thinkin' of going into Granite Cave eh, lass?"

Lucy felt smaller around the stranger, who was wearing a giant vest with so many additional pockets he could have stuffed it with sandwiches and fed a classroom.

"Granite Cave, sir? Is that what it's called?"

The Fisherman laughed, "Ha ha ha! You must not be from around here, lass! Aye, that there is Granite Cave, secret training spot of the Gym Leader, Brawly."

Willow began to jump in place, "See? I told you strong Pokémon would be in there!"

"Quite a mystery, that cave there is," the fisherman said. "You and yer Pokémon are sure to have some fun. But before I let you inside— I'll need to test ya!"

Lucy's eyes grew, "A...test?"

"A battle, of course!" He declared, "What say you?"

Lucy shrugged and looked at her Pokémon, they seemed to be in decent condition, so she took him up on his offer.

"Alright, let's do it!"

The Fisherman let out a gut laugh, and grabbed a fishing rod which a Pokéball hooked to the end, casting it forward to release his team member. "Perfect! Come on out then, Tentacool!"

A slippery squid of a Pokémon came out and floated effervescently above the sandy beach. Lucy felt intimidated, because she hardly knew anything about this Pokémon to begin withi. She motioned to Willow and sent her into battle.

"Alright then, you're up, Willow."

The Fisherman cocked his head to the side, "Er...a Ponyta, lass? Ya know my Tentacool's typing, don't ya?"

Lucy panicked, like she had done something wrong she didn't realize, "S-Sorry, do I need to change Pokémon?"

"HA! Well ya don't _have_ to, it's your team after all." He replied, "But if ya want an advice from a Water Pokémon expert, a fire type like Ponyta isn't going to be the best option. But you're welcome to try, I'm sure my Tentacool will be happy to light that fire!"

Willow turned happily to Lucy with a pleasant grin, "I think he's right Lucy, you should let Palm try and battle! I think I've had my fair share."

Once again, Willow's advice as a much more experienced battler was correct. Lucy didn't know what she would do without her.

"Alright, if you say so. Come on back Willow, and I'll send out: Palm!"

There was a pause, and nothing happened.

Lucy repeated herself, "...Palm, I choose you!"

No response.

"Palm?" Willow asked.

Lucy turned her head to the left and to see what was wrong. Palm was still sitting on her shoulder, sitting in a fetal position. He seemed scared, so Lucy put him into her hand and held him up to her eyes. "Are you okay, little guy?"

"I-I don't know, Lucy..." Palm whispered, "Do you really think I can battle? The other guys at the Day Care always beat me when I battle by myself..."

It was then that Lucy realized the kind of tactic she needed to implore to connect with Palm—confidence. Part of Lucy couldn't help but see herself in Palm, especially when he was younger and constantly questioned whether or not she was good enough to do anything. Palm must have felt the same, especially now that he didn't have all the support of his friends to back him up. So instead, Lucy decided to be that supportive friend for him.

"Don't worry," Lucy reassured, "If things go bad, I take you straight out and let Willow finish the job. Okay?"

The Fisherman and his Tentacool were still standing patiently, "Uh, lass, are we battlin' or not?"

Palm gave a careful nod to Lucy and hopped out of her hand, onto the beach and to the forefront of battle. He looked ready. Lucy wasn't going to let him down.

"Sorry, we're ready now! I choose Palm."

The man must have been biding his time this entire time, because the second Lucy made her decision he went in for the first strike.

"Great! Tentacool, Poison Sting!"

Tentacool raised its slippery tentacles and started to spit out its shiny army of stingers aimed straight at Palm. Palm foresaw the attack and crossed his arms around himself, defending to the best of his ability and tanking the hit. Willow gave him a friendly cheer from the sidelines.

Lucy clapped, "Good job, Palm! Now our turn! Use...um...actually, I don't know what your attacks are yet, so use your strongest move!"

Palm understood the command, and focused his psychic powers to move Tentacool's hands telepathically and cause it to hit itself over and over. The Fisherman grunted, "Ey! What's the matter with ya, Tentacool? Snap out of it!"

"Whoa, Palm, that was confusion!" Willow yelled, "Good job!"

Tentacool wasn't responding its trainer's commands, so Lucy took advantage of the chance.

"Hit it again with confusion, Palm!"

The same move was used, and again the opposing Pokémon began to hit itself over and over with its own force. Eventually it became too much, and the Tentacool was knocked out just like that.

Palm gasped from his victory, and was welcomed by Lucy and Willow's congratulations, "That was great, Palm! Good work, buddy!"

"Tentacool, return!" The Fisherman ordered, and Tentacool slid back into its Pokéball. "Nice job, lass. But if you have two Pokémon, then so will I! Go, my prized reel, Magikarp!"

A red and dopey koi fish bursted from the Pokéball and started to bounce up and down around the beach floor. Lucy team all looked at each other, in question.

Lucy, as politely as she could, asked the Fisherman, "Um...can that Pokémon battle on land?"

"It can do more than that, lass!" he responded with a very dynamic shift in confidence, "Sure I've yet to use this beast in a battle, but keep at it and I'll have meself a Gyarados! Magikarp, tackle!"

" _Karp_... _Karp_... _Magikarp, karp_... _"_

Magikarp did not unleash its attack. Rather, it didn't seem like Magikarp even understood the order. It just bounced around making sand fly from side to side.

"Oi, Magikarp! Tackle!"

" _Karp_... _Magikarp, karp_..."

Lucy wanted to laugh, but she knew how rude and poor sportsmanship that would be, so she gave some constructive criticism, "Do you think Magikarp knows how to use tackle yet? If you haven't battled with it before, maybe—"

"No, this is the biggest 'karp I've reeled in all my years! It _has_ to battle! Launch your attack lass, maybe that'll wake 'em up!"

"If you say so," Lucy said. "Palm, you heard the man, use Confusion!"

Palm raised his hands adorably into the air and forced Magikarp to use its own friction against it, slamming hard into the sandy beach. Magikarp was injured, but didn't seem to respond very diligently.

"Magikarp, counter with your Tackle now!"

Magikarp continued to bounce around.

"Palm, one more time!"

This charade went on for a time before it seemed Magikarp was actually reaching the end of its rope and started to bounce slower and slower. The poor Fisherman was at his wits end trying to communicate with it, and it seemed Palm was about to be the undisputed winner of the battle.

Lucy, with less enthusiasm than usual, ordered Palm's attack, "Confusion...again."

The attack went as normal, but this time, Magikarp didn't flop back onto the ground, and instead remained down and ceased movement.

"Drat!" the disappointed man whined. "Stubborn ol' trout! I'll get you attacking at some point. Ah well, miss, seems as though you're the winner of—"

But just as Lucy was about to accept her victory, Magikarp leaped off the ground and faced Ralts with a furious arch to its eyebrow. Its cry began to get deeper and more menacing. This startled Palm, and he was almost paralyzed by how thirsty for revenge Magikarp looked.

"M-Magikarp?" said its trainer, "Will you...use...your tack—"

"KARP!"

In a fury, Magikarp leaped up off the ground and fell flat onto Palm in a hard blow, being kicked to the side by its tail and making Palm let out a painful cry.

Lucy gasped, "Palm! What the—?"

"Ha!" The Fisherman belted, "I knew ya had it in you! You just needed to get kicked around some, of course! That there was Flail!"

"Flail?!" Lucy exclaimed, "It was so strong!"

Willow yelled at Lucy, "Flail does damage in relation to how much damage the user has already taken! So Magikarp is countering all those attacks Palm did at once! Lucy, you have to switch me in!"

"Ha ha ha! That's my Magikarp!" laughed the man, "Use Flail, my pride and joy!"

"KAARP!"

Palm stared the Magikarp dead in the eye when it was coming crashing down on it. It crouched into a fetal position to prepare for impact, whimpering in fear of how hard it would hit him. But just as it seemed the battle would be over, Palm suddenly began to glow with a strange psychic mist. In a flash, ten different illusions of Palm began appearing all over the place in a furious multiplication. Magikarp crashed hard into one of them, which vanished instantly. Lucy was flabbergasted. The many Palms all looked up in shock that they all hadn't been hit. And adorably, all of them were gasped in synchronization with each other.

Willow gasped, "Whoa, Palm, I think that was Double Team! I didn't know you could do that!"

"I-I didn't either!" answered all the Palms in unison.

"No fair!" the Fisherman yelled, "Ya can't learn a new move the same time that I did!"

Lucy called out to her Pokémon in a mix of surprise and excitement, "This is your chance, Palm! Wherever you are, hit Magikarp with confusion and take it out!"

All the double teamed Palms raised their hands slowly, focusing on the now panicking Magikarp who was flailing and splashing across the sand trying to figure out where Palm really was. But it was too late, and eventually the Double Team vanished, revealing the real Palm. He then telepathically rose Magikarp into the air and flung it into the sea shore with a hard crash, officially knocking it out.

"WOOOO HOOO!" Willow screamed happily.

Lucy let out a cheer and run to Palm to pick him up and give him a hug. "Nice battle, Palm! You did great!"

The Fisherman was speechless, and very quietly withdrew his Magikarp back into the Pokéball. He walked towards Lucy and let out his hand as a friendly gesture, "Well it looks like I'll be paying a visit to the Pokémon Center."

Lucy smiled and shook his hand. "Thank you for the battle, it was a lot of fun!"

"No, thank you lass! You've shown me how to train my Magikarp! Because of you, I'll be having meself a Gyarados in no time flat. When that happens, you better high tail it back here and battle me again!"

Lucy giggled and nodded, "You bet! Take care, good luck with your training!"

And with that, the Fisherman parted ways and went off into town to heal his Pokémon.

Lucy put Palm on the ground and pat his head. Willow joined in the celebration as well, as Palm had just won his first battle with Lucy as a trainer.

"Did that really just happen?" Palm asked, "Did I really win?"

"You beat _both_ those Pokémon all by yourself!" Willow said happily, "You did great, Palm!"

"A-All…all by myself? Wow…wait until Cypress hears…"

Lucy hugged both her teammates, "You know, I think I'm starting to understand what being a trainer is all is about."

"You're just now realizing that?" Willow snickered.

"I'm serious! Seeing that Magikarp become so strong like that— and you learning a new move, Palm— that must be what battling is all about. Living in Littleroot my whole life…I mean…I had no idea! It makes sense now. It's at our weakest points that we becoming our strongest. It's like being a camp counselor, but a little bit different, because while back at camp I would have let you guys learn the lessons for yourselves...when we're battling, we have to learn that lesson as a team. And that's what makes it so much fun!"

Willow and Palm both opened their mouth to speak, but were interrupted by another voice that was approaching from behind.

"That was beautifully said."

Lucy was startled, and jumped up and turned around. She was faced with a tall and slender man she didn't even know had been standing there. His face looked clean and perfect, and every inch from head to toe looked like it was a well thought out decision.

"O-Oh, h-hello there...I'm sorry, was our battle in your way?"

The man brushed the silver hair brushing in the wind out of his face and uncrossed his arms and legs that were resting comfortably against the entrance to Granite Cave. A warm smile slid through his face like butter on fresh toast.

"Not at all, in fact I was just enjoying watching you and your Pokémon battle. I am always fascinated with trainer and Pokémon learning to work in harmony with each other."

The man took a few steps forward and knelt down to Palm's level, holding out what looked like a blue square-shaped gummy, "Congratulations on your first victory."

"T-Thank you, sir," Palm said gratuitously, grabbing the Pokéblock and taking a few bites.

"I apologize, I haven't introduced myself." He said calmly, "My name is Steven. May I ask yours?"

"L-Lucy..."

"Lucy? That's a very fitting name. Forgive me for eavesdropping— did I hear you say you're from Littleroot? You must be acquaintances with Professor Birch, then."

Lucy nodded, trying to keep her cool and hiding the blushing cheeks. The aura emanating from this man seemed very strong, very professional, just standing next to him Lucy felt like it should be some sort of honor, though she had no idea why. He just beamed importance.

"Yeah, I work during the summer at the professor's summer camp, we take in stray Pokémon from the Day Care and give them a fun time."

Steven's eye brightened and he beamed a smile, "That sounds wonderful! Must they be stray? I would love if it one of my Pokémon could have a fun time as well!"

"Oh, sure!" Lucy answered, "B-But, sadly we're having to postpone this year. S-Some of the Pokémon went missing, you see. Team Aqua."

Steven's smile turned to a furious frown. An _intimidating_ frown.

"Team Aqua. Team Magma. I've heard those names flying around far too often, recently."

He paused, turning around and pressing his hand squarely into his chin. Neither Lucy or her Pokémon dared to speak.

Steven turned back around, "I apologize for your inconvenience. If I can, I'll keep an eye out for any Pokémon that seems out of place and lost in the wilderness."

"Would you? Oh, thank you! That would be so kind!"

Willow chuckled and mocked Lucy's voice, "Oh, thank you, handsome shiny man, you're so dreamy— _OW_!"

Her mocking went unnoticed by Steven, thanks to a swift nudge to the knee from Lucy.

Steven chuckled, "Haha! You certainly have a rambunctious team of Pokémon. I've enjoyed learning from you today, Lucy. Tell me, what's taken you here to Dewford? Are you taking the Pokémon League challenge?"

"Oh, well, I don't know if—"

"Yes! Say yes! Maybe he'll kiss you— _ack_! Palm!"

Palm had distracted Willow, sitting atop her head and covered her eyes to make her run off playfully to the shore of the beach.

Steven put one hand to his waist, in a very dapper fashion, gave Lucy a convincing nod. "Forgive me, I didn't notice that Stone Badge clipped to your bag! That answers that, then. In that case, you would do well against this town's Gym Leader, Brawly. His Pokémon are strong, but you face him with even half the resolve you've shown me today, I know you'll emerge victorious!"

Lucy blushed and slipped her hands shyly into her pockets and looked down at her shoes. Without Willow and Palm there, her nerves were blitzing through the roof talking to this kind stranger all by herself. Every word she said was double checked five times in her mind before she said them.

"T-Thank you. I promised them I'd make this a fun summer for them, even though we're looking for their lost friends. So I head to the gym right away, if you think I'm ready."

" _I know_ so," Steven smiled, with a wink.

Lucy's cheeks froze into a soft shade of peach.

"Farewell, Lucy. Warm regards to you and your Pokémon, may they serve you well going forward. I hope we meet again!"

"I-I'm sure we will!" Lucy said, and the second she said it, immediately regretted it. She started berating herself, ' _Oh god why did I say that?! Stupid, stupid_ … _'_

But by the time she had recovered, Steven was already gone.


	7. Chapter 7: vs Brawly!

**Chapter 7** : vs. Brawly!

The team took Steven's wise words of advice and began preparations to challenge the Dewford Gym. After Palm won his first battle, and the silver haired stranger gave such kind words of wisdom, Lucy felt more charged than ever to give them another stunning victory. The chances of finding a lost Pokémon out in the middle of the ocean were slim to none, so Lucy wanted to give them all a vacation they'd never forget. And what better souvenir than a shiny new badge?

They ventured into Granite Cave, as per Willow's demand, and trained against the wild Pokémon who tried to startle them. Most of them were Zubat, small annoying bat Pokémon who lurked in the shadows and always cackled when Lucy jumped at the sound of from their playful screeching. Palm became the star competitor, getting to the point where he could zero on a Zubat and have it flying away against a stalagmite in no time flat. Willow practiced her Double Kicks on her own time against wild Aron, hard bulky rock-types, and occasionally on a few boulders that looked at her funny. So far, everything seemed to be going fine. In fact, it was more than just fine, Willow and Palm were blowing it out of the water.

When they went back into central Dewford, Lucy decided it was best to withdraw her Pokémon back into their Pokéballs, but not before giving a few words of encouragement. "So, I'm not sure what type this leader specializes in, but I know we're going to do a great job! How are you two feeling?"

Palm just smiled, but Willow beamed with excitement and anticipation, "We're gonna kick Brawly's butt!"

"Willow..." Palm inquired, "We're only supposed to fight his _Pokémon_..."

"It's a figure of speech, Palm."

Lucy giggled, "Just make sure you don't push yourselves, okay? Things could get rough in there. But I think you guys can do it."

"I don't think so, I _know_ so!" Willow declared.

"Haha, alright then. You guys take it easy in your Pokéballs, I'll call you out when I need you."

Both Pokémon nodded, and were withdrawn safely.

With her Pokémon tucked back inside her pocket, Lucy walked into the Dewford Gym to confront the challenge. The inside of the building looked very unlike Roxanne's gym in Rustboro. There were bright florescent lights on the ceiling making everything seem plainly obvious to the naked eye. Workout machines were scattered in unorthodox places, and there were a surprising number of people and Pokémon who weren't doing anything except beating up punching bags.

Lucy learned pretty quickly this must be a Fighting-type gym. Upon first impression she might've guessed Steel, but the further she walked in and heard all the squeaks and clinks from the weights, plus the dull-drum from a Johto radio station playing overhead, Lucy could tell this wasn't just a gym—this was a _gym_.

She approached one of the trainers who was locked in her own training zone, kicking and punching a beaten red bag with what looked like a Meditite, and asked, "Excuse me, I'm looking for the leader—"

"ONE! TWO! ONE! TWO! Come on, Meditite, don't hold anything back! We're unlocking Fire Punch! Light that bag on FIRE!"

Lucy eye's widened in fear. She resorted to hand techniques, hoping the fighting girl would notice it over the sound of her own voice.

"Excuse…err, excuse me? Um…Brawly?"

She eventually got an answer, but the movements did not stop.

"Huff...huff... _three_... _four_...Brawly?" she grunted, " _five_... _six_...past...those doors... _nine_...over there."

"Um...thank you."

She followed the instructions and kept going to the end of the gym, where there were two double doors leading to a secluded location. Beyond the clear glass, she could see a man sitting crisscross facing the opposite window. With process of elimination, Lucy figured that had to be Brawly. He was the only one the building who wasn't moving— just sitting with his eyes closed and focusing on whatever it is gym leaders focused on. He was wearing usual workout clothes, and his hear was wild, blue. All together he pulled it off pretty well.

Lucy felt bad interrupting him, but she wanted to feel like her visit to the gym would actually result in a battle, so she closed the double doors behind her and asked, "Um...I'm sorry to bother you, but are you Brawly?"

"Shh..." he replied, "I'm halfway to nirvana, man..."

"Nir...what?"

Brawly shook his head and hopped up onto his feet, but still looking forlorn out of his foggy window. He exhaled and stretched, "Ahh, oh well. That was a good meditation. Really felt the motion of the ocean, man. It's some tight stuff."

Lucy didn't say anything, assuming he would turn around at some point. But he didn't.

He continued, "You're here for your second badge, yeah?"

Lucy was surprised, but not that much. "How'd you guess?"

"I can feel your waves, man." He whispered, "You got a shine to your aura. I like that in a challenger. You do wanna challenge me, yeah?"

Lucy nodded, forgetting he wasn't facing him, yet he still understood her even though he wasn't looking.

It was at this point he finally turned around and showed turned his eyes and face to Lucy and gave her a very full, happy smile. His face was strong, tan, and youthful. "Let's see what you're made of!"

Lucy was caught off guard with how quickly this battle was happening, but she had no complaints.

Brawly directed Lucy to the center of the gym, where they took the proper positions opposite the field of each other. Reluctantly, most of the trainers seemed to stop what they were doing and all took a seat to watch the match. Lucy felt a little bit of pressure, but she was confident in her team. Brawly didn't appear phased, much unlike Roxanne who had a huge change in demeanor when she prepared for battle, he was completely relaxed. He even smiled, like he had just taken a lick off a chocolate ice cream cone.

After the female referee declared the battle rules, 2 versus 2, Lucy stood and waited for Brawly to call out his first Pokémon.

"Ride the wave, man!" Brawly called out, "Come on out, Machop!"

Lucy wasn't intimidated by Machop in the slightest. She reached into her bag and grabbed her first Pokéball, throwing it proudly into the air, "Go, Willow!"

Willow came jumping out of the Pokéball and pranced onto the field, staring down Machop with her flaming eyes. "Oh yeah! Let's do this!"

The ref called the battle to start, and Lucy made the first move.

"Willow use Double Kick!"

Willow leaped forward and sent two swift kicks Machop's way, like she had dozens of times to other opponents. Though Machop took the hit, it remained standing the whole time and wasn't knocked back. Willow retreated back into position.

Brawly held up a thumbs-up, "Bulk Up, man!"

Willow and Lucy both fixated on Machop who seemed to be channeling the strength within itself, not launching an attack, but seeming to become stronger. Lucy wasn't sure it was a good idea for Willow to be up close with Machop after a buff like that, so she diverted to a different tactic.

"Willow, Ember!"

The fire from Willow's nose shot at Machop and, for once, knocked it off of its feet. It wasn't a move Willow had used often, but in a situation like this it was first thing that came to mind. Lucy was glad to have finally done some real damage, but she knew the counter attack was coming.

Brawly hadn't changed his Zen state this entire match, acting very laid back and ordering his attacks without breaking a sweat. "You're all good Machop, time for Karate Chop!"

Machop's first attack came swinging out of left field and hit Willow fast from the side before she even had a chance to see where it was coming from. Willow was knocked off of her feet, but quickly jumped back on. The hit made Lucy worried for how hard Willow was injured. All she could do was hope Willow could beat Machop before it beat her.

"Ok, Double Kick, Willow! Aim for the weak spots!"

Willow began to charge, turning around just at the right time to smack Machop square in the middle of its stomach. Lucy could tell though just by viewing the impact that Machop's muscled had been increased drastically from the last hit it took. The Bulk Up must have worked well, because while Willow normally could have broken through Machop's defenses, it had held on just enough.

"Nice Machop!" Brawly said, "Alright, man, Karate Chop again!"

Willow didn't have any hope of dodging this attack in her condition, and took yet another hard blow from Machop's fierce and improved brute force. Willow took the hit, but she definitely couldn't take another. Her and Machop were neck and neck.

Spontaneously, Brawly reached in his pocket and threw Machop a Potion, which it caught and began to drink all on its own. "There ya go, buddy. Now we're gonna win this!"

Willow considered giving Willow a potion, but thanks to Machop's increased offence and defense, it wasn't going to do any good. If Willow reached full health now, she'd only lose it in a few more hits, and who knew if Machop was prepared to buff itself even stronger. That was a risk Lucy couldn't take. In that moment she had to make a decision— she could withdraw Willow and send out Palm, but with Machop restored to full condition from the Potion, Palm would have to start the battle all over again, and he couldn't take that.

"It's alright, Lucy." Willow said to her trainer, "Let's hit him one more time, that'll give Palm enough cushion. He'll take Machop out."

Willow was right, but still Lucy didn't want to leave Willow in just to attack and then get KO'd by a finishing blow. She wanted Willow to feel like she contributed to this victory, too. "Willow, why don't you come back? I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Palm will get hurt if you send him out now." Willow grunted, "And then Machop could have time to buff some more, and then he's really in trouble. Don't worry Lucy, I'll make this move count!"

Lucy had to believe that Willow knew what she was doing. She trusted her judgement, sometimes more than she trusted her own. But before she could even doubt herself, it was clear Willow had already made the decision for her. Lucy could only respect her Pokémon's choices, so she gave the order.

"Willow, Ember!"

The fire was brighter and stronger than it was before. Willow had unleashed the flames with all the power she had left. It scalded Machop and sent it flying backwards hard onto the gym floor. Willow was proud of her hit, but as soon as Machop hit the floor, Brawly gave his counter command, and Machop came flying back.

"Karate Chop, quick!"

Machop went zooming at Willow so fast it could have caught a hummingbird. Willow couldn't see it coming—and she was knocked out.

Went Willow hit the ground, Lucy came running into the battlefield as the ref called Machop the victor.

Before she reached her, Willow was already on her feet and gave Lucy a weak, yet comforting smile. "Eh, a loss is a loss. This is Palm's battle now, I already one a gym badge by myself anyway."

Lucy gave Willow a hug, "You did great out there. I'm so proud of you."

The two embraced each other for a moment, and then Lucy withdrew her back into the Pokéball to get some rest. The battle was not over yet.

"Hey, that's a neat Ponyta ya got there!" Brawly complimented. "Can't wait to see what else you're packing."

Lucy arched her eyebrow and grabbed Palm's Pokéball, "You'll meet him right now! Go, Palm!"

Palm flew out of his Pokéball. He turned to Lucy, taking in the situation. "Is Willow okay?"

"You bet," Lucy said to Palm, "Now let's win this for her!"

Palm nodded, and at that moment, was ready for battle.

Brawly gave Lucy a thumbs-up, still acting pretty relaxed about the whole battle. "Ooh, a psychic type! Yup, that's a good pick for this gym. We'll be fine though, right Machop?"

Machop smiled at its trainer, who then returned with a command.

"Righty-oh Machop, use—"

"Palm! Confusion!"

Machop acted like he was ready to dodge, but he was sharply halted in his tracks by Palm's telepathy which lifted Machop off the ground and spun him around in circles. Brawly didn't look too nervous, only surprised, even when Machop was hurled back onto the ground in a crushing finishing blow. Palm won.

"Whoa!" Brawly exclaimed, "That was sick, dude! Machop, return, bro."

Machop was sent back into its Pokéball, and the referee declared Palm's win. Brawly seemed to be burning with a positive passion for battle, because he wasted no time calling out his next team member.

"Makuhita! You're up!"

A small, yet intimidating Pokémon popped out and fell onto the battlefield with a body slam. Lucy had seen some of those Pokémon in Granite Cave, and so had Palm. But if she had learned anything from Roxanne, it was not to underestimate a Gym Leader.

Palm, to Lucy's pride, wasn't quivering or afraid like he usually was in intense battles. He was ready to do this, waiting patiently for Lucy to give her command. Out of all the ones they'd had previously, this was the first battle that Lucy and Palm felt in sync.

"Palm, you know what to do, Confusion!"

Palm used Confusion!

Makuhita was lifted into the air similar to Machop had previously, and took an even harder blow upon impact. Having its weight used against it did not work well in Makuhita's favor.

Brawly brushed it off, "Bulk Up, bro!"

Makuhita emulated the same sort of self-empowering movement Machop had, the buff looked twice as intimidating. There was no doubt in Lucy's mind that on hit from Makuhita at this point would knock out Palm in a single blow. It didn't matter if Psychic-types resisted Fighting-types. She couldn't waste any time. She had to act fast, and so did Palm.

"Makuhita! Hit 'em with an Arm Thrust my man!"

"Palm, use Double Team!"

Using the same tactic he had against the flailing Magikarp, Palm evaded the attack by duplicating himself into a group of a dozen different Palms, throwing the opposing Pokémon off guard. The attack crashed into one of the doppelgangers, who vanished instantly and made Makuhita hit the ground.

Brawly was watching the battle with bright, gleaming eyes. "Makuhita! Try and find the real one! Just focus on your chi, man! Just like meditating!"

Makuhita closed his eyes and started to ponder, much like Brawly was when Lucy found him. It wasn't a good sign. Lucy figured that would be gateway to defeat if Makuhita realized where the real Palm was. Lucy needed to attack.

"Ok Palm, let's win that badge! Confusion!"

Palm singled up back into himself and started to attack. But, Makuhita was not as easy to lift into the air this time. Palm had to concentrate all his energy into it, draining his own fatigue in the process. It took everything he had not to give up and have the attack fail—but both him and Lucy had to do this. Palm especially wasn't going to let Willow battle and lose for nothing. He was going to win this battle.

Makuhita was lifted high into the hair, and though it attempted to struggle, its buffed up muscles could not protect it from an attack that pit its own power against itself. Without Palm so much as budging an inch, the opposing Pokémon was banged hard in a loud CRASH against the walls of the gym. It hit the ground twice as hard, and the room went mute.

"Makuhita is unable to battle!" the referee declared, "Ralts is the winner, which means winner of this battle is Lucy, the challenger!"

Palm looked to be a mix of speechless and excited. The millisecond Makuhita was KO'd, he ran to Lucy and gave her a hug right at her ankles, which was welcomed by Lucy picking up him and giving him a hug of her own. Brawly withdrew his Pokémon. Lucy had just won her second badge.

Brawly jogged forward, appearing energized and full of spunk, despite losing. It was almost as if the loss made him more excited than a victory.

"Nice, dude!" yelled Brawly, who gave Lucy a hardy thumbs-up. "Your Pokémon sure have a strong wave! You sure earned this."

Brawly casually reached into his back pocket and pulled out a shiny Knuckle Badge that was shaped like a fist small fist. Lucy clipped it confidently to her bag alongside the Stone Badge, and the two looked like a perfect matching pair.

"Thank you," Lucy said, still holding Palm in one arm.

Willow came bolting out of her Pokéball on her own accord. Was she was out, she started jumping up and down in circles to celebrate with Palm for their victory.

"We did it! Palm, YOU did it!"

"I…I did it? I really did it…"

"Go Palm! Go Palm! It's your birthday! It's your birthday!"

While her Pokémon were celebrating, Lucy turned to Brawly and gave him a respectful bow of gratitude. "Do you know where we should go next?"

"That's up to you, man!" Brawly responded, "Go wherever the wave takes you. If you learn one thing from me, you just gotta take it easy. Don't force yourself down the road, let the road take you."

Lucy was confused, and she cocked her head, "So…just keep moving forward!"

"EXACTLY! Man, nobody understands what I mean when I say that, you're actually the first!"

Truthfully Lucy wasn't sure if she actually did, but she nodded anyway. She thanked Brawly for the match and left the Dewford Gym, feeling confident.

The amazing part was how easy that battle had been for the trio. Sure, Willow didn't make it all the way, but Lucy was half expecting a struggle just as tough as they had against Roxanne. But unlike last time, Willow and Palm were both far stronger than they were when she first met them. Even Palm was coming into his own. Camp Littleroot was becoming a team right before Lucy's eyes.

The first place Lucy planned on heading was the Pokémon center to give her Pokémon a much needed checkup. Even though, looking at both Willow and Palm, it didn't look like either of them needed it. They were trotting happily behind Lucy, Palm sitting on Willow's back, and they were filled with so much gleaming confidence. Willow herself was walking off her battle scratches like nothing had happened at all. It was a joyous sight to see.

Now, all the team had to do was figure out their next move.

"What do you guys want to do next?" Lucy asked her Pokémon while they strolled through the sandy Dewford soil.

"Let's go fight Brawly again! I want to see if I can kick that Machop's butt!" Willow declared with a growl.

Lucy giggled. Thinking over a map of Hoenn in her head, Lucy tried to visualize the best place to go where they could find some of the missing Pokémon, and potentially even gather some more gym badges.

"Why don't we backtrack to Fallarbor Town? Maybe some of the other Pokémon ran off north."

"—Lucy!" Willow interrupted. She stopped in her tracks. "There's only one place we _should_ go back to!"

"Where?!"

Willow paused for dramatic effect, "The scene…of the crime!"

"The…scene of the crime?" Palm asked from behind Willow's head.

"Yeah! That place with the bike ramps of stuff."

Lucy pondered for a moment, attempting to visualize the place Willow was describing. But there was only one place in Hoenn that was famous for bicycling. "Oh, Route 110! We can just have Mr. Briney take us to Slateport."

Willow dramatically nodded her whole head, "Yes! That's where we need to go. Maybe some of our friends are just sitting there waiting for somebody to find them?"

Palm gasped, "Oh no…I really hope he's not waiting for me…oh no…"

In an attempt to calm everyone down, Lucy smiled, "Oh! And then we can visit the Pokémon Daycare! I beat the caretakers would like to know that both of you are okay."

Willow and Palm both agreed. Lucy had never been to the Day Care where all her campers came from, despite communicating with them often. When she wasn't organizing Camp Littleroot, she was doing chores around Professor Birch's lab for extra cash. She had hardly ventured beyond Petalburg. She looked forward to seeing new sights she had never thought to visit before.

But before they could finalize their plans, the calm silence of Dewford Village was broken by a scream that seemed to echo from far off onto the beach. It was the voice of a woman, shrilling a high pitched screech.

"HELP! HEEELP! A WILD CACNEA HAS STOLEN MY POKÉMON! MY CHIMECHO IS GONE!"

Willow and Palm both turned to each other in perplexed horror.

Willow signed, "Oh no…you don't think?"

"A…wild…"

"…Cacnea?!"

"It couldn't be…"

Lucy felt out of the loop with her own Pokémon and started twisting her head around, wondering what they were referring too. "What? What about a Cacnea? Is that one of Team Aqua's Pokémon? Is it a bully?"

Palm shook his tiny little head, "No, not a bully…"

" _Worse_ than a bully," Willow heaved, "She's a _diva_."

Lucy was completely lost. "What do you guys mean? Who is this Cacnea?"

Both Pokémon nodded at each other and then turned to Lucy. In unison, they both spoke a name, heavily, with a giant exhale.

" _Sequoia_."


	8. Chapter 8: The Princess and the Sea!

**Chapter 8: The Princess and the Sea!**

Standing astonished outside the Dewford Gym, Willow watched as both of her Pokémon seemed to be collaborating together on something she knew nothing about. Even though she expected this island to be barren of anything related to their quest to find the lost campers, she was wrong. Sure enough, one had somehow gotten all the way out here in the middle of the ocean. And from what it sounded lie, it wasn't even a Water-type.

"Willow, what should we do?" Palm quivered.

Before Willow could answer, another scream came bellowing out from around the corner. A woman then appeared, being chased by a very frustrated Officer Jenny. "OH, MY PRECIOUS BABY! IT'S BEEN STOLEN! HELP ME!"

"—Stop! I'm trying to help you!"

Willow turned to Lucy, with Palm sitting secure on her back, and nodded, "Let's go, Lucy!"

Lucy had no option but to agree. Following the footprints of the frantic lady in the green dress, the team was off.

Eventually, the woman slowed the pace and allowed Officer Jenny to catch up to her. She turned to her, her face beat red with rage and sorrow, and her hands still flailing recklessly in every direction. "Officer! You've finally answered my call!"

"I've been chasing you for the past—"

"MY CHIMECHO! MY CHIMECHO WAS STOLEN!"

Officer Jenny brushed sweat out of the way of her hanging blue hair and took out a small notebook. "Can you tell who the perpetrator was and what they looked like?"

"It's wasn't a _who_! It an…IT! A wild Pokémon! A Cacnea!"

Officer Jenny's eye crossed, "A wild Cacnea? In Dewford Town? That's not possible."

"But it's true!" the woman cried, "Me and my Chimey were playing by the beach when a Cacnea snatched him by the tail and ran off! Ooh, my poor, poor Chimey..."

"It must belong to a thief! Probably one of those team grunts who send their Pokémon to do their bidding!"

Palm clasped his hands and looked at Lucy worryingly, "Oh no, is Sequoia going to jail?"

"Big surprise," Willow said, completely unphased.

"But…Mr. Caretaker told us that stealing was wrong. Why would she steal a Pokémon? That's mean…"

"I don't think she wanted that Chimecho to battle with, Palm."

Lucy shook her head, "Don't worry, nobody is going to jail. We just have to find Sequoia…before the police do. That's all"

Willow nodded and bolted off, "That lady said they were down by the beach, come on!"

"Ahh, slow down!" Palm cried as they took off towards the edge of town.

Lucy couldn't think of any reason a Pokémon would want to steal another Pokémon. She always knew the day would come when she'd have to deal with a Pokémon with bad behavior, but just thought she'd have to remind two campers to play nice with each other and not eat each other's berries, not a lesson on how not to steal things and be investigated by the police. Willow and Palm were two of the nicest Pokémon she'd ever met, was this Pokémon going to be mean? Lucy didn't even want to think about it.

When they got to the beach, they stopped their pursuit and looked out to the sea. Willow gazed into the water, perplexed and astonished. "Could she have...swam away? But how? Can Cacnea swim? Hold on, let me look up something in my—"

But suddenly, all heads were turned, when a bright and flamboyant voice called out from across the beach like a seagull. Willow, Palm, and Lucy all turned their heads.

" _Yooo Hoooooooo_!"

Lucy was appalled was she saw. A Cacnea came sashaying down the beach, putting a twist to her walk, and motioning to the curled up Chimecho who appeared to be happily perched upon its head. Both of them looked like they were having a wonderful time.

Cacnea whistled joyously, " _Willoowww! Paaaalm! Yoo hoooo_! It's me!"

Willow jumped forward and barked, "Sequoia! What do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm just out for a pleasant morning stroll! Do you like my new hat? Or do you _LOVE_ my new hat? Isn't it fabulous? I got it this morning!"

Palm jumped up and down frantically and pointed at the Cacnea, "Sequoia, that's not a hat, that's a Pokémon! You should give it back."

Cacnea chuckled and did a happy little twirl, "Don't worry! Chimecho loves being a hat! Isn't that right, Chimecho?"

" _Chime Chime!"_

Lucy decided to interrupt, walking down to Cacnea. She carefully removed the Chimecho from her head, which then followed motion and curled up around Lucy's wrist. "Is your name Sequoia? My name is Lucy. We've been looking for you."

"Hey! Why did you take my hat?"

Willow shook her head, "Guess some things never change."

Lucy smiled and knelt down, still holding the curled up Chimecho and attempting to communicate properly with Sequoia. "I'm sorry—this Chimecho just belongs to someone else. A trainer who's really worried about her lost Pokémon."

"Well I was going to take it _back_!" Sequoia cawed, "…I mean, at some point, I guess."

Palm jumped down to Sequoia's level and looked up at her, "Sequoia, how did you get here?"

"One thing at a time! Right now I want my hat back!"

This Pokémon was acting the complete opposite of what Lucy suspected. She wasn't a mean Pokémon who liked to bully others, she just liked to play dress up. It was endearing in a way. But never the less, she was still throwing a temper tantrum for not getting her way.

"I'm sorry I took your hat!" Lucy attempted to console, "I'm sure we can get a much better hat, maybe one with jewels!"

"I don't want one with jewels! I want to play more with Chimecho!"

Willow shook her head, "Sequoia, we're not at the day care anymore, you have to do what you're—"

" _HAULT_!"

A posh voice hissed, "There! That's the Cacnea that stole my Chimecho!"

Suddenly, Officer Jenny and the distressed woman came running out to the beach where the commotion was occurring. Palm immediately retreated behind Lucy's foot to hide. Chimecho came flying out of Lucy's wrist and around the sun hat of its panicked trainer. Lucy stood to her feet and did her best to act casual.

"Chimey! You've returned! Oh, my sweet darling Pokémon!"

Lucy put her hands up and nervously giggled, "Sorry! Um, this is my Cacnea, she must have run off and thought Chimecho was a Pokémon of mine! I-I'm really sorry!"

Sequoia's eyes widened, " _YOUR_ Pokémon?!"

Officer Jenny stretched her chin, "This is your Cacnea? Where is its Pokéball, then?"

Lucy began to sweat, "Oh! Ha, ha...um, i-it's right here!" she stuttered, pulling out a Pokéball from her bag and holding it up to Sequoia, who looked very confused.

Officer Jenny was obviously waiting for Lucy to prove that Sequoia belonged to her, even though that was technically a lie. Though it wasn't the exact circumstance she wanted to befriend a new Pokémon, she had no choice. She had to play-catch Sequoia right at that moment.

"Um…S-Sequoia, return!"

Sequoia didn't do anything, she just stared. "Pokéball? I don't like those, it's stinky in there!"

Willow huffed, "Sequoia, get in the ball!"

"I don't want to!"

Having had enough, Willow faked a sneeze and made a small little ember erupt at Sequoia's feet.

"Ow ow ow ow! Hot hot hot hot—!"

Sequoia cried, jumping up and down and retreating into Lucy's Pokéball with no hesitation. Lucy held the ball away from Jenny so she couldn't see it shake back and forth in her hand. She eventually felt a small little "click!", and then she held out the small red Pokémon confidently in her hand to prove Sequoia now belonged to her.

Officer Jenny looked satisfied, taking a note down on her notepad and nodding.

Chimecho's trainer pointed at Lucy and croaked, "I want to press charges for emotional distress!"

Officer Jenny waved her hand and smiled, "Ah, it was just a mistake. It's a nice day, let's just let this one go, alright? Everyone has their Pokémon now."

"Hmph! Very well, I'll let it go for now. But if I see these miscreants try to steal my prize Pokémon against, I won't hesitate!"

With her nose stuck up in the hair, Sequoia and Chimecho gave each other a short wave as the trainer walked off pompously into town.

Jenny turned to Lucy with a perceptive arched eyebrow, "Sorry about that folks. That's a real reckless Pokémon you have there."

Willow scoffed, "You could say that again…"

"I'm very sorry, officer!" Lucy said with a deep bow.

"It's not a problem. Are you going to be staying in Dewford any longer?"

"N-No Officer! I'm leaving town right now!" Lucy answered. "An old sailor, Mr. Briney, he's waiting for me in the harbor!"

"Good. Then I'll radio for him for you. It's probably best that you leave now, and maybe not come back into town for a couple days. These coordinator types can be really self-absorbed."

At this point, Lucy would have agreed to do 50 cartwheels if it meant none of her Pokémon were going to end up in prison. What she wasn't looking forward to, however, was the aftermath of Sequoia realizing she'd just been forced inside Pokéball against her will…

* * *

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FORCED ME INTO THAT POKÉBALL!"

Sequoia screeched loudly. The team, now including Sequoia, were on board Mr. Briney's ship and headed on a course forward to Slateport City. While it would have been nice to enjoy the ride this time around, nobody could get a moment of silence with Sequoia having another fit.

Lucy tried to calm Sequoia down, but it wasn't going very well. "I'm really sorry about that! You and I haven't had a proper introduction—"

"—No, we haven't!" Sequoia responded furiously. The anger then melted into tears, as she began to cry genuine tears. Lucy could feel her heart breaking from guilt.

"A-And where's my hat? I want my hat! Waaahh!"

Willow and Palm were watching Sequoia's temper tantrum very casually, like they had seen this happen a thousand times. Lucy was frantic, picking up Sequoia and cradling her in her arms, repeating herself in a fit of panic "Don't cry! Don't cry! I'm sorry I scared you! My name is Lucy! Please don't cry..."

Willow let the charade go on for a while, but eventually stepped in and made Lucy put Sequoia down to talk to her.

"Sequoia! Listen to me!"

"Shut up Willow..." Sequoia whimpered, "You don't know what it's like to lose things..."

"Really? Because I've lost two Gym Battles already."

Sequoia began to quiet her sobs, "G-Gym Battles? You battled a Gym Leader?"

"Two," Willow answered proudly, "Palm too. We came all the way to Dewford to try and find you! The least you could do is thank you."

Sequoia shook her head back and forth, "I'll never thank her! She took away my pretty hat I worked so hard to get..."

"Sequoia," Palm inquired, "C-Can you tell us how you got to Dewford now?"

Sequoia turned away dramatically. Willow rolled her eyes.

"It is a tragic story. One that I cannot recount without bringing a tear to my eye in mourning of my fallen comrades on the battlefield..."

"Oh good grief Sequoia, nobody died! We just got lost." Willow yelled.

"Fine!" Sequoia snapped and crossed her arms, "I followed that woman with the Chimecho to Dewford on a ferry. Chimecho and I played a little bit in Slateport, because we both had a similar eye for fashion. But they had to go before I we had a chance to play dress up! So I followed them."

" _That's_ how you got to Dewford?" Willow snapped, "So you could play dress up?"

"I knew you wouldn't understand!" Sequoia cried. "You don't understand what it's like to be the ugly Pokémon!"

Everyone went quiet. Both Willow and Palm looked at each other with the same embarrassed expression and turned away. Sequoia had turned away from all of them and started to cry against the end of the boat.

Lucy wanted nothing more than to calm Sequoia down, but she had no idea how. If she could catch a wild Chimecho for her to play with she would, but she had no idea where to find one. She had to do something, because she hated seeing her friend feel so sad.

Thinking on her feet, Lucy had an idea.

"Sequoia," Lucy said softly, "I think I have something for you after all."

Sequoia turned around and wiped her tears from her brightly pupiled eyes, "What is it?"

Reaching into her backpack, Lucy dug around for the winter wear she had packed for dangerous situations. But being that they were in the Hoenn region, the probability they would be going anywhere cold was slim to none.

Lucy grabbed a white scarf that blew carelessly in the wind as it slid from Lucy's fingers. It was something she'd had for most of her life, but she never had a chance to wear it. Sequoia's eyes widened.

"I was saving it for a rainy day," Lucy said, "But I think it would look really good on you, don't you think?"

Sequoia took the scarf and felt its material. Her beady little eyes couldn't keep off of it.

"This...is...AMAAZZIINNNGGGG!" Sequoia sung, "So silk, so sheen, it's the definition of style! Oh Lucy, is it really for me?"

Lucy smiled and tied the silk scarf tightly around Sequoia, who instantly jumped against the breeze of the sea and watched as she fluttered through the sky like a Beautifly.

"It looks good on you!" Lucy grinned. "So what do you say, Sequoia, do you think you want to come with us and find the rest of your friends?"

"Of course!" she answered, "And when we find them, they'll be even more amazed by my beautiful new scarf!"

"I think you look pretty, Sequoia." Palm beamed.

"Obviously! Look at me! I'm gorgeous!"

Lucy laughed. Sequoia was clearly in a league of her own, even compared to Willow and Palm, Sequoia couldn't be more different if her entire body was painted orange. But still, Lucy was excited to have her on board the team. It wasn't going to be easy, but she was ready for whatever more spontaneous adventures awaited them. 3 Pokémon down, only 3 more to go. Wherever they were, Lucy hoped to find them soon.

The ocean fog cleared to reveal the brightness of Slateport City beyond the sea. They were half way to finding the rest of the team. It wouldn't be long now.

"I want a pretty scarf too." Willow said, but was swiftly elbowed in the toe by Palm.


	9. Chapter 9: Now Museum, Now You Don't!

**Chapter 9 – Now Museum, Now You Don't!**

Mr. Briney kept his word and transported the team to Slateport City, where he gave his final goodbye before heading back to Petalburg. Lucy felt like she had to do more to thank him for everything he'd done, but Mr. Briney wouldn't stop reminding her of how thankful he was she rescued his little Wingull, Peeko.

"I'll be sure to have Peeko fly by Littleroot and give that old Professor a huge letter of recommendation! You're getting' yourself a bright future, young lady!"

"O-Oh, you don't have to do that!"

"But it's not me that wants it lass, it's Peeko! Very charitable little birdie. Now you just be on your way, if you ever need anything, you give me a call, eh?"

Mr. Briney was persistent, and with Lucy being far too timid to press any further, she was forced to drop it. Since the team was getting bigger, Lucy withdrew all her Pokémon in to their Pokéballs and began the trek up the beach and into the city.

Slateport City was magnificent, by far the largest city Lucy had ever been to. The commerce and hustle from the market to the docks seemed to go on forever, and there wasn't a single person passing by that didn't have a smile on their face. Walking by the market, Lucy took time to smell the pastries and admire the streamers and decorations lavished in outdoor booths. Furfrou and Delcatty were out and about acting as models and Pokésalesmen. To Lucy, this place was paradise.

It didn't take long for Sequoia to come hoping out of her Pokéball, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Lucy! Lucy! I was just here the other day and I saw the most beautiful purple linen gloves! We have to get them! Can we, pleeeeease?"

Lucy knelt down and picked up Sequoia caringly. As funny as it was picturing Sequoia slipping her non-existent fingers into a pair of gloves, she still played along.

"As fabulous and I know you'd look in those, why don't we try and pick out something for the others first?"

Sequoia scoffed, "No way! Willow has no sense of style, and it's impossible to get Palm to play dress up with me before he runs off and does something else. Besides, they'll just make fun of me..."

"But don't you see, Sequoia?" Lucy said with encouragement, "That's why you have to do it! How else will they develop their own sense of style?"

Sequoia gasped adorably, "You're right! If I don't then they'll get their fashion advice from that dumb Sinnoh lady on TV with the fluffy purple hair!"

Lucy wasn't sure if she should be more impressed that Sequoia knew who that was, or that Lucy could picture that woman so vividly in her mind. Perhaps she and Sequoia had more in common than she originally thought.

"It's settled then, let's both go and pick out something nice for them!"

And so, Lucy and Sequoia went on a shopping spree. Though they didn't end up buying much, Sequoia was filled with happiness and light as they perused the open streets of the Slateport market and admired all the wonderful items for sale. Sequoia wanted to buy everything she saw, and it was Lucy who had to be the voice of reason and look carefully at her wallet. There was tons of things she could have bought, but consider Palm was too small to fit into a sweater, and Willow would have singed off anything that came anywhere near her fiery mane, she decided to give it a rain check.

Unfortunately though, the brief moment of vacation they got was, per usual, interrupted.

Marching down the street, Lucy took notice of the large group of people in blue and black stripped uniforms. It was Team Aqua. Lucy gasped and held Sequoia tightly, quickly jumping behind a nearby statuette of a model cruise ship.

"Hey, what was that for?" Sequoia staggered.

Lucy peeked her head around to survey their distance, and then waited for the large group to walk past where she was hiding. She whispered to Sequoia, "That was Team Aqua. We've had business with those guys. They're the group that split all of you guys up."

" _Those_ drabs?!" Sequoia gasped, "They're so annoying! They kept interrupting my shopping experience for that leader to do a dumb speech…"

It took a moment for what Sequoia said to process with Lucy, "Wait, you met their leader?"

"No way, I don't associate with people that stinky." She continued, "But I was just minding my own business, trying to sniff out any fallen jewelry in the street, and all I could hear was blah blah blah _infiltration_ , blah blah blah _ocean_ , blah blah blah _museum_ , blah blah blah _BLAH_!"

"Museum?" Lucy inquired, "You mean the Oceanic Museum? They're going to try and infiltrate it?"

"I don't know, some dumb stuff about making the ocean bigger or something."

Lucy stood up, still holding Sequoia in her arms, "Sequoia, let's go, we have to stop them before they do something bad!"

"What? Why?! I wanna go shopping!"

"They're the crooks that separate you guys. It's personal. I'm not gonna let them hurt anyone else."

Sequoia sighed, and admitted defeat. "Ok fine, but we're going shopping afterwards!"

"Agreed," Lucy answered with a smile. "Now let's go!"

Lucy and Sequoia both hightailed it out of the market, past several dazed and confused people, and straight towards the Oceanic Museum, where she could see many Team Aqua members scattered around, doing seemingly nothing except sightseeing. Still, Lucy didn't trust it. Since they hadn't done anything so obviously wrong yet, she decided to play it cool, and passed off her visit to the museum like she was an ordinary tourist.

Lucy kept Sequoia out of her Pokéball and rest of her team inside. The main reason for this was to make her look more natural, and word had likely spread around Team Aqua of the trainer with a Ponyta and a Ralts who defeated one of their members. Although, she knew that Willow was probably itching to kick all the hooligans in the jaw.

Once inside the museum, just like outside, it appeared Team Aqua wasn't actually doing anything wrong. They were all pondering around the exhibits and chatting amongst themselves, as if they were waiting for something. Lucy just avoided eye contact and pretend-admired the exhibits around the museum. It was a shame, because several of the exhibits would have caught her attention on a normal day, but now wasn't the time.

The Oceanic Museum was a popular tourist attraction in the Hoenn, though of course Lucy had never been. The Professor from Littleroot often made several trips over to the beachside city so he could take a look at their research of aquatic Pokémon of the region. As much as he liked field work, Professor Birch wasn't one for swimming. It was a shame Lucy couldn't enjoy the museum as she would have liked, but she had a mission to do. She couldn't be thinking about anything else.

Lucy went upstairs where, suspiciously, none of Team Aqua had flocked to yet. The upstairs was bare, save for the more larger exhibits and spaces for private parties. Lucy was convinced there had to be some activity up here. The influx of obvious Team Aqua action downstairs was just a ruse to hide the real operation. How Lucy managed to figure this out, she had no idea.

Sequoia scoffed, the first word she'd spoken since she took off to the museum in the first place, "I can smell that stinky stench again. It smells like Mr. Caretaker's sweaty socks. Can we go now, Lucy?"

"Oi, who's there?!" shouted a voice in the back.

Lucy panicked and tried to hide, but in the blink of an eye, two gruff Team Aqua grunts came out from behind an exhibit and startled them.

One of the grunts scoffed, "It's just some kid. Where's the boss?! How long we gotta wait?"

Lucy stood her ground, "What is Team Aqua doing in Slateport? Leave everyone alone!"

"Aww, is the wittle girl angwy?" the other grunt mocked, "Look you worm, we don't have to answer questions, so get out of our way and you won't get hurt."

"No!" Lucy snapped. She reached for a Pokéball and demanded a battle, "Go, Willo-"

But before she could toss her Pokéball, one of the grunts held out a giant blue magnet and pulled both Willow and Palm's Pokéballs out of Lucy's hand and bag and clinging to the magnet. Lucy and Sequoia both stood in shock.

"M-My Pokéballs!"

"Thanks for the new Pokémon." The grunt taunted, "Go, Carvanha!"

The other grunt followed suit and called out a Pokémon as well, "Zubat, go!"

Lucy took a step back and trembled. They had stolen Willow and Palm, and now she was faced with having to fight two Pokémon at once, and all she had was Sequoia, who she had never battled with before.

Lucy yelled, "G-Give me back my Pokémon, you thief!"

"Oh, sorry, were these _your_ Pokémon? Hehe, sorry I don't think I quite heard you. Carvanha, use bite!"

Lucy bent down and tried to shield the attack, but Carvanha didn't land impact, because Sequoia had leaped out of Lucy's arms in a fury and smacked Carvanha to the ground.

"S-Sequoia!" Lucy trembled, still staggered and dazed on the floor, "How?!"

Sequoia was madder than a mother bear protecting its cub. Her Silk Scarf was blowing in the wind like she was some sort of super hero. Carvanha had been KO'd in a single hit.

She yelled out, "You give back my friends or I'll make you pay!"

"What's the little Cacnea gonna do, huh?" the other grunt teased, "Zubat, Wing Attack!"

"Sequoia! Use—"

But Lucy didn't need to give Sequoia any orders. She dodged with incoming Zubat's attack without taking a scratch and then pummeled it with an onslaught poisonous goop that sprayed from the ends of her arms. Lucy recognized the attack from wild Oddish near Route 101—it was Acid, a move Cacnea could not usually learn.

The Aqua grunt started to sweat and panic, "W-What's that thing wearing a stupid scarf for, anyway? You trying to be pretty or something? That's stupid! You're an ugly Cacnea"

Sequoia paused in place for a moment and looked dead on at the grunt with a blazing look in her eye. "The only ugly thing in this museum—is THAT. UGLY. BANDANNA!"

Sequoia leaped from the ground and pounded herself into Zubat, who went flying through the air and smacked its grunt trainer square in the face, knocking both of them unconscious. Sequoia did a very well timed feminine twirl in mid-air and landed square on the grunt's stomach, digging her stubby legs into him and swiping Willow and Palm's Pokéballs from her pocket.

"And if you ever try messing with my friends again, I'm digging this spike RIGHT. IN. TO. YOUR—"

"—Please! Please! Uncle, UNCLE!"

Lucy couldn't believe what she had just saw. Sequoia had just pummeled the Aqua grunts faster than a Swellow doing a 360.

"S-Sequoia…" Lucy said, "You saved them. You saved _us_."

Sequoia came trotting back over to Lucy and handed over the other Pokéballs over with a twinkle in her eye. "Willow and Palm didn't tell you how good a battler I am, did they?"

Lucy didn't say anything, and pulled Sequoia tightly into a hug and they both rolled around happily on the floor. Willow and Palm both popped out of their Pokéballs at that moment, and Lucy pulled them into the hug as well.

Willow stuttered, "Wah! What's going on? What did we miss?"

"Lucyy I'm getting dizzy…" chirped Palm.

Sequoia leaped onto a nearby podium and look proudly at the team, holding her silk scarf stylishly and doing a confident twirl. "You were both kidnapped by Team Aqua yet again, and I saved you all on my own. I believe you owe me a thank you…"

Palm's eyes widened "Really Sequoia? Oh, thank yo—"

"Thank you?!" Willow yelled, "How about I thank you by lighting you on fire!"

"Willow, Willow, Willow…always solving problems by battling. You should learn to let go of things, it causes terrible wrinkles…"

"I'll show you wrinkles!"

The team starting play fighting, and Lucy watched it with an unshakable happy smile on her face. If she ever doubted her team's bond together before, there was no way they could now. Even though they sometimes didn't get along, at the end of the day, it was obvious that they would do anything for each other, and that was something Lucy was endlessly happy to see.

Lucy stood up to withdraw her Pokémon, but before she could do that, she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Lucy's face turned to ice.

"You the scamp that's been meddlin' with my team?"

Lucy shot around, and all three of her Pokémon cowered behind her. A burly man in a dark blue jump suit and a sharpened beard was towering before them. He was the most intimidating man Lucy had ever seen. But yet, the look on his face wasn't mean, it almost looked playful.

Lucy had no response. She just stared, words unable to come to her.

He continued, "Not talkin'? That's fine. But you know it's not nice to be messin' around with things you don't understand. You could get pretty hurt."

"W-Who are you?" Lucy asked, feeling the cling from all her Pokémon crouching behind her leg.

The man chuckled, "Archie! I'm the leader of Team Aqua! Didn't ya catch on from the outfit—ah, it's alright, probably best no one knows me anyway. Least not yet."

The statement was almost unbelievable. Why was the leader of Team Aqua talking to _her_? What was going to happen to her? Was she going to be a prisoner?

Lucy stuttered, trying to be brave. She couldn't let her fear get in the way of doing the right thing. "L-Look, um, I don't think it's right that Team Aqua is going around a-and stealing other people's Pokémon…"

"STEALIN' POKÉMON?!" Archie yelled, "Who's been stealin' Pokémon?! I love Pokémon! SHELLY!

Promptly, a woman with equally matching attire came up the stairs and behind Archie.

"Sup?"

"Some of our members stealin' people's Pokés?" Archie asked urgently.

"What?!" she exclaimed, "Are you kidding me? They're getting fired _so fast_."

"Thanks, shell'. Let 'em down easy."

Shelly marched down the stairs and began to bark at the team, "WHICH ONE OF YOU TURDS HAS BEEN STEALING POKÉMON?!"

A murmur of several people timidly trying to make excuses for themselves followed.

Archie turned his attention to Lucy and, surprisingly, smiled. "Sorry 'bout that, squirt. Team Aqua ain't got no business stealing people's Pokes. I think some of these newer recruits are comin' over from Kanto where they use to work for that Rocket gang, the loonies…"

Lucy was very confused, but she didn't feel like she was in a place to argue.

"So…if you don't want Pokémon…what do you want?"

Archie ruffled his hand through Lucy's brunette hair and chuckled, "Ah, don't be worryin' yourself with that, scamp. Grown up stuff, ya know. Listen, I don't wanna have to have those grunts be hurtin' you and stuff, so why don't you run along and try not to bother us anymore, kay?"

Lucy didn't know what to say. Her body was now riddled from goosebumps thanks to the head scratch she'd just gotten. So she just agreed.

"O-Okay…I'm sorry for bothering you."

"Hey! No big deal." Archie blurted, "Have fun with your Pokémon, little scamp. The bond between people and Pokémon is a wonderful thing. Don't waste it."

Archie's words left her shivering with even more questions, but she wasn't going to stick around any longer to ask. All of Lucy's Pokémon retreated quickly and quietly into their Pokéballs and Lucy left the museum.


	10. Chapter 10: Brendan'd a Thief!

**Chapter 10: Brendan'd a Thief!**

The encounter with Team Aqua made everyone a lot more tense than usual. Palm hadn't spoken a word for most of the day, Willow had been very short and lost in thought, and even Sequoia retired into her Pokéball after the visit to the Pokémon Center. Lucy, on the other hand, was trying to do anything she could to try and change the mood. She offered to finally go on that shopping trip she promised, but not even Sequoia seemed to be in the mood. She asked if they wanted to go to the beach for the day, and that was declined as well. For the remainder of the day, everyone was dead quiet.

Lucy didn't know what to think about Team Aqua at this point. The Leader was oddly cooperative, even apologetic. If Team Aqua didn't want to capture Pokémon, then what did they want? Regardless, the organization was severely lacking structure, because even the leader didn't know they had been stealing people's Pokémon. Lucy could _maybe_ forgive Archie, but his apology wasn't going to bring back the other three missing campers.

That night, in Lucy's room of the Pokémon center, Palm poked Lucy in the middle of the night while she was asleep and crawled up on her bed. Lucy was fast asleep, but she did her best to wake herself and pay attention to him. She figured it might have been a bad dream, which had happened to Palm before.

"Lucy?" He whispered nervously.

Lucy cracked a half-asleep smile, "Hey, Palm."

"Lucy I'm scared," he said, "What if we don't find the others? What if something bad happens to them? What if we never find them?"

Lucy sat up in bed and held tried comforting Palm and picking him up, "But we _are_ going to find them. We found you, didn't we? And we just found Sequoia. The others will turn up. You just gotta keep your head high."

"I just really hope we find them soon…" Palm replied.

Lucy didn't know how to reassure him, she wasn't even sure how to reassure herself. With everything that was happening, there was so much doubt going on in Lucy's head that it was hard to think straight. She honestly didn't know how to find the Pokémon besides stumbling into them by coincidence. There was no way she could look in every crack of the forest, or every ally of the cities, or on every island in the vast open sea.

"You must really miss them," Lucy whispered.

At this point, unexpectedly, Palm began to shed a tear, and his voice began to crack. "I miss…Cypress…A-And I thought I'd see him in the ocean, or the beach, because he loves water, but he wasn't there…A-And then Team Aqua, they love water Pokémon, w-what if they kept him? What if he isn't coming back? Lucy I'm so scared…I-I don't know what I'd do if he…if he…"

Instinctually, Lucy picked up Palm and gave him a warm hug which seemed to help. In fact, it even made Lucy feel better. She didn't have many words for Palm that could comfort him, only her trust. Trust that she was going to find his friends. There was no way around it.

Route 110 was their next stop, the scene of the crime, so maybe if they were lucky they'd find them somewhere there. After that, was the Pokémon Day Care itself. They had a few promising leads, but nothing reassuring. Still, they couldn't give up their hope. It was all they had.

"I'm not going to stop until I find everyone who Team Aqua hurt. Don't be sad. You still have me, and everyone else. Okay?"

"O-Okay, Lucy. Thank you for listening."

Palm paused, but then looked back up at Lucy with curious eyes.

"Lucy…can I sleep with you tonight?"

Without replying with words, Lucy rolled over slightly in her cot and Palm tucked into bed with her. They both fell asleep side by side.

* * *

In the morning, Lucy was happy to see that her Pokémon had slept off the worry and were now back to their usual, perky selves. She was woken up by Sequoia jumping on top of her repeatedly, yelling about how excited she was to show off her scarf to the socialites of Mauville City. Willow and Palm were equally as excited to continue their adventure, onward to another gym badge.

They never got to do the shopping Lucy promised, but none of them seemed to mind, even Sequoia. Their minds were focused on moving forward, something even Lucy was struggling to do. But with the enthusiasm from her team, everyone packed up quicker than a thunderbolt, and they marched out of town.

Above Slateport was Route 110. She had Willow out by her side to help tell Lucy find the location where the traveling trainer who delivered the team to Littleroot was ambushed by Team Aqua. Traveling north, she wasn't picking up any noticeable landmarks besides the giant cycling road that was overhead. They kept walking, and everyone kept their wits about them. It was unspoken that they weren't leaving until they had some sort of lead.

"I remember running off to Littleroot from here…" Willow said, "And I remember where I was released, but not where it all happened. It's so frustrating, I know as soon as I see it, I'll know."

"I have a question," Lucy said, "When the grunt released you guys, why didn't you all stick together? Or were you not together?"

Willow shook her head, "He must have spread out and purposefully split us all up so he wouldn't cause a scene. Trust me, all of us would've liked to stick together, but we just couldn't find each other. I guess we all followed our instincts."

Lucy knew her Pokémon well enough now to know exactly why and where they all ran off to. Willow was the abrasive headstrong type that just ran off to Littleroot and didn't look back, Palm was sensitive and clung to the grunt so he wouldn't get lost, and Sequoia followed the bright shining lights of Slateport City and went shopping. It all made sense, knowing their personalities. But that was only after getting to know them.

Willow stopped walking and looked down, "I don't think I can remember, Lucy. I'm sorry."

Lucy patted Willow on the head, "Don't worry about it, you tried your best, and that's what matters to me. Why don't you go back into your Pokéball and rest a bit?"

Willow nodded, and Lucy withdrew her. They could always go back to Route 110, but for now it was probably a better idea to go to the Day Care and check in with the caretakers. They'd at least be someone to talk to about the whole situation.

When Lucy put the Pokéball away, she heard a voice beckoning at her from across the field, "Hey! Hey you! That's my Ponyta!"

Lucy turned around and recognized a familiar face—it was Brendan, Professor Birch's son. She had never met him personally, but there were so many pictures of him scattered on the Professor's Desk (which she was asked to clean often) that his face was glued in her memory. From what she knew of him, he was out on his own journey with Pokémon, trying to complete his father's Pokedex.

His demeanor though, was not at all what Lucy expected.

Brendan was marching towards Lucy at a very aggressive rate. "You! It was YOU!"

Lucy stuttered, "Um, excuse me?"

Brendan got into Lucy face and pointed his finger, "I knew the perpetrator would return to the scene of the crime. You're the thief!"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down." Lucy said nervously. "You're Brendan, right? I'm Lucy, I wor—"

"How do you know my name?!" He blurted, "Of course, you looked at my trainer ID after you knocked me out! You scum! You're dressed in red, you must be from Team Magma! Or are you part of that weird liberation front in the Unova region?"

Lucy was perplexed what Brendan was talking about. "I don't steal Pokémon, I'm looking for _my_ Pokémon, Camp Littleroot, you know, don't you Brendan?"

"You don't steal Pokémon? I just saw you with Willow! Now let them go!"

 _Willow_ …how did he know her name? He had to have met her at some point, but how?

That's when things were starting to add up in Lucy's head. "Wait, are you telling me… _you're_ the trainer who was supposed to deliver the Pokémon to Littleroot?"

Brendan let out a frustrating scream, "I don't have time for your games you thief! Now give me back those poor Pokémon or I'll take them back myself! Go, Numel!"

Brendan unleashed his Pokémon in a fury and declared battle. Lucy didn't know what to do, was she supposed to fight him? It was all one big misunderstanding, there had to be another way to solve this, but Brendan continued to refuse reason.

Lucy held her hands up, "Brendan, I'm not the one who took the Pokémon! That was Team Aqua. I'm the one going on the field and trying to find them—"

"Shut up! The perpetrator always returns to the scene of the crime! Numel, ember!"

Numel began to attack Lucy, which she was able to jump to the side and avoid getting cinged. It was obvious Brendan wasn't going to let up. She had to fight.

Lucy reached for the first Pokémon she could think of and called him out, "Palm, go!"

Brendan gasped, "Palm! That's Palm! That's my Ralts!"

"No, it's not!" Lucy exclaimed, "Well, it _is_ , but…UGH! Why won't you just listen to me?"

Palm began to twitch, "Lucy, what's going on…?"

"Sorry Palm," Brendan cried, "But I'm going to have to knock you out to save you from this freak. Numel, Ember!"

"Palm, confusion!"

Numel let out its fiery fumes which hit Palm, and it was very hard. Palm staggered backwards and struggle to get back up. Lucy wasn't going to let him get pummeled like this.

"Palm, return!"

Brendan's face was red with rage, "Call out a Pokémon or I'll have Numel attack _you_!"

Lucy couldn't reason with him. He wasn't listening. She could tell he cared about the Pokémon, but he was too void of reason to take the time and realize they weren't enemies. At this point Lucy was starting to get angry herself.

"You want to fight so bad? Fine, I'll prove to you I didn't steal these Pokémon, because of how close we've gotten. Willow, GO!"

Willow came stampeding out and her nose exhaling smoke. When she saw Brendan, she turned to Lucy with her ears perked and neighed, "Lucy, is this…? Why is he—"

"NUMEL, EMBER AGAIN!"

Numel unleashed its attack again, but the flames were swallowed by the blaze on Willow's mane, and the attack was completely ineffective.

Brendan screamed, "Willow! It's me! I'm going to take you back to the Day Care!"

Willow responded with an angry stomp of her foot which called Brendan aback.

He retaliated, "Willow, why? Why do you want to stick with her? She kidnapped you!"

"No I didn't! Willow, Stomp!"

Willow leaped into the air and slammed all four of her legs onto Numel, knocking it out instantly.

"You monster…" Brendan whimpered, "You've been training with them haven't you? They'll only obey _you_ now. How could you? They're just baby Pokémon!"

Lucy wanted to scream back, but it wasn't going to work. He wouldn't listen. "I'll prove to you you're wrong. Just to prove a point, I'll use another one of my Pokémon. Willow, return!" Willow went back into her Pokéball and Lucy tossed out the next one, "Go, Sequoia!"

Brendan responded instantly with his next Pokémon, "Go, Wailmer! Use Water Gun!"

A large yet round little whale came flopping into the battle field and immediately began its attack, but it was barely affective against Sequoia's absorbing cactus skin.

Lucy had past the point of trying to persuade this guy. Right now she was going to win this battle and show him just how wrong he was.

"Sequoia, Absorb!"

"You got it, chief! Take this you smelly fish!"

Sequoia sashayed her beautiful scarf to the side and pointed her arms forward, letting out a magical needle that pierced Wailmer and absorbed its energy. The blow was very effective.

Brendan started to huff and puff, "This is never going to work! Wailmer, return! Finish this battle up, Grovyle!"

Brendan's Pokémon emerged. A medium sized Pokémon with large leafy hair and hands, looking seasoned and professional like he'd been battling like this his entire life. It was the evolved form of Treecko, a Pokémon Lucy knew from Professor's Birch's lab.

Sequoia and Grovyle faced each other eye and to eye. This was the first time Lucy had battled against an evolved Pokémon. She had no idea the kind of power Grovyle had, but Brendan was making her so mad she didn't care. "Sequoia, Leech Seed!"

Sequoia spat out her infectious seeds, but Grovyle carelessly knocked them away and they shattered in the air upon impact with its razor sharp arms.

Brendan ordered, "Grovyle, Pursuit!"

Grovyle leaped from position and stabbed Sequoia with its fingers, knocking her back hard on the ground. Grovyle was tough, but Lucy knew Sequoia could be tougher.

"Sequoia, Acid!"

Like she had done in the battle back at the museum, Sequoia sprayed her poisonous goop onto Grovyle which stuck to its body and slowed its movement. So far so good.

"You aren't going to slow down Grovyle, he's the strongest Pokémon I have! Use Pursuit again!"

Grovyle shook off the Acid like it was water and slammed Sequoia again, square in the center. It looked as though Sequoia was going to be knocked out cold, but in all her courage, she held on and got back on her feet. Lucy was so proud of her.

"I've had enough of this!" Lucy yelled, "Sequoia, Acid!"

Sequoia didn't waste any strength, and pummeled Grovyle with one final critical blow that knocked it unconscious. Lucy won.

Lucy and Brendan both withdrew their Pokémon. Brendan still had one Pokémon left, but he wouldn't call it back out. He was still steaming mad, and ran up to Lucy and looked her straight in the eye, "I'm not going to let you knock all of my Pokémon unconscious again! You took the Day Care's Pokémon, because you're a no good crook, but I'm not letting you steal the Pokémon I've caught and raised all by myself, do you hear me?"

Lucy pointed back in Brendan's face and yelled, "You aren't listening to me! I. Didn't. Steal. The. Pokémon! Why won't you believe me?"

"Because I know your type, you'll say whatever it takes you weasel your way out of trouble when you get caught. Well guess what? I can see the Pokéballs on your belt, you only have three. That means the other Pokémon didn't want to stay with you, did they?"

Lucy shook her head and arched her eyebrow, "No! I've been running around the Hoenn region looking for them! And if you weren't such a stuck-up brat maybe I would ask for your help!"

"You'll get more than my help." Brendan exclaimed, "I'm going to find the rest of those lost Pokémon before you do, and when I do they're going back to the Day Care center where they belong."

If it were a week ago, Lucy would have had no problem with that, but this was no longer a mission for Camp Littleroot. These Pokémon were _hers_. She was going to reunite the team, whatever it took.

"You're delusional. Fine, call me the enemy, I don't care, but I'm going to find those Pokémon, and next time I talk to Professor Birch you're going to be in a world of trouble."

"Why do you even want them anyway? They can't even evolve!"

Lucy's face froze. She had to repeat what he said once again back in her head.

With no response, Brendan grabbed his bike and scoffed. "Figures you wouldn't even know that much. You call yourself a trainer and you don't even know anything about these Pokémon."

Lucy went silent, "Are you saying they're…They can't…?"

"Yeah, they can't." Brendan snapped. "And if you care even an iota about them, don't tell them. They don't need the worry, they've been through enough."

Lucy knew what Brendan meant. She was silent, and didn't say a word to Brendan. She didn't know what to say.

He rolled his eyes and jumped on his bike. He hissed, "Whatever. Mark my words you thief, I'm going to rescue those Pokémon from you and you're gonna regret ever messing with me. Have a nice life with your new Pokémon, I hope it was worth it."

Lucy said nothing. Brendan rode off into the sun.


End file.
